South Carolina Republican Scandals | Updated List of GOP Scandals in SC

Unsuccessfully pushed Georgia's Secretary of State to illegally discard thousands of legally cast ballots from the 2020 Presidential election

Cheated on and left his wife of 34 years for a DC lobbyist after having spent years touting "traditional family values" as a pillar of his political identity

Used his influence as a US Rep. to convince a judge to order the arrest and jailing of the husband of a woman he was having an extramarital affair with on bogus kidnapping charges so he could continue seeing her unabated

Engaged in a yearslong extramarital affair with an Argentinian journalist and got caught when he disappeared to visit her in Argentenia without telling anyone of which they famously faked the excuse that he was "hiking the Appalachian Trail" to cover for his absence

Rear-ended a vehicle while driving under the influence and tried to get out of it by switching places with his wife before the police arrived, but the victim told police she saw him behind the wheel when he crashed into her after which he was arrested

Stole $159k from his election campaign and spent it on personal expenses by routing funds through a political consulting firm that in turn paid him over a series of transactions

Passed out with his head against his steering wheel after pulling over in a strip mall parking lot because he realized he was too drunk to drive

Conspired with a business executive to hide $524,000 in assets owed to an insurance company that was then left on the hook for a $6 million contract his coconspirator failed to fulfill and then intentionally lied to an IRS investigator when questioned about it

Inundated his ex-girlfriend with so many calls, texts and emails after they broke up that she compiled them all into a three-ring binder and reported him to the police and continued to harass her even after a detective visited him and told him to stop contacting her

Broke into his ex-girlfriend's home by kicking in the door and stole her handgun, computer, cell phone and a number of other items while she was away at work

Threatened to beat and sexually assault a man who was dating his estranged wife along with his mother over several menacing calls

Accepted over $900,000 from a well-connected political consultant in exchange for acting in his client's interests in secret by not disclosing the true source of the funds as required by state law and later lied to a grand jury about it in an attempt to cover it up

Accepted over $4 million from lobbyists working on behalf of his father's consulting firm and then advocated on their behalf for legislation that would benefit them

Misreported $3.5 billion that did not exist in South Carolina's yearly financial report due to a coding error that compounded for 15 years while he was in charge during which he once brandished an "Accounting for Dummies" book at a talk for new employees for dramatic effect and may explain why he ignored repeated warnings by auditors and waited five years to approve a recommended full review that finally uncovered the problem

Attempted to kiss his nanny Dawn Ledwell without her consent and then cornered her in his bedroom where he dropped his pants, tried to rip off her clothes and make her touch his exposed penis

Threw his date on his nanny's bed, ripped her pants off and digitally penetrated her anus and vagina and pinned her arms behind her head while he shoved his penis in her face before she was able to break free from his grip and get him off of her and then secretly paid her $200,000 and required her to sign a nondisclosure agreement in order to keep her from going to the police

Frequently consumed and distributed cocaine to his friends over a two-year period