"Tough on Crime" Republicans Who Committed Crimes

There is something deeply satisfying when Republicans who fearmonger with "tough on crime" lies, smears, conspiracy theories, and bigoted attacks on certain demographics to scare their base get caught in actual criminal behavior. This includes racist attacks falsely fearmongering on crime from migrants coming across the southern border (they commit less crimes than average) and anti-LGBT grooming smears.
Scandal Categories
Displaying 14 Scandals
Sorted by When News Broke
  • illegally received over $24,000 in COVID unemployment benefits from New York while he was still employed making a $120,000 salary at his job in Florida and then later hypocritically signed on as a top cosigner of a House bill meant to recover these ill-gotten funds
    10 May 2023
    According to charging documents filed by federal officials
  • baselessly accused a wide swath of election officials and everyday citizens of a myriad of election crimes without any evidence while he himself committed actual election crimes like pressuring the Georgia Secretary of State to throw out thousands of legally cast ballots, making illegal campaign finance payments to cover up sex scandals and inciting an insurrection against the US Government to overturn Joe Biden's decisive election victory
    30 Mar 2023
    According to reporting by numerous outlets over a yearslong period
  • Randy Gene Kaufman [2022 AZ GOP School Board Member Candidate]
    pleasured himself watching videos in his truck within view of a busy road used by parents to pick up children from a nearby preschool after having spewed propaganda about wanting to protect children
    18 Oct 2022
    According to an arrest report filed by local police
  • Mike Erickson [2022 GOP OR Rep. Nominee]
    ran a stop sign and proceeded to drive erratically until police who observed him "stumble" out of a bar around 1:40am pulled him over, noticed an "overwhelming odor of alcohol" and conducted a field sobriety test which he failed spectacularly and then was found to have oxycodone that had not been prescribed to him and yet he also portrayed himself as a "tough on crime" candidate
    27 Sep 2022
    According to court documents reported by local newspapers
  • riled up crowds at rallies with chants of "lock her up!" after the FBI discovered a small number of classified files accidentally stored on Hillary Clinton's secure home server, but then intentionally took 300+ documents ranging from standard classified to the most sensitive top secret storing them in insecure locations at Mar-a-Lago and subverted multiple efforts to return them to authorities
    09 Aug 2022
    According to multiple sources and reported on by all major outlets
  • District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas [R-PA]
    slapped a female work acquaintance on the face and then grabbed her by the neck and raped her after he entered her house without permission while also presenting himself as a "tough on crime" prosecutor to the public
    23 Sep 2021
    According to charging documents filed by local police
  • Aide Jerod Prunty
    visited a massage parlor suspected of operating a human sex trafficking ring and was arrested for pandering three days after the parlor was raided by police presumably because they found evidence against him
    17 Feb 2019
    According to charging documents filed by local police and first reported by The Advocate
  • State Sen. Ralph Shortey [R-OK]
    illegally consumed marijuana with a teenage boy he met on Craigslist in a hotel room after he cosponsored a bill that would have made it so people who get caught with even small amounts of marijuana would be charged with a felony instead of a misdemeanor
    20 Nov 2017
    According to charging documents by federal officials
  • Sheriff Joe Arpaio [R-AZ]
    blatantly disregarded a new law that prevented the targeting of people of Latino descent showing complete disdain for "law and order" while also having had espoused excessive over-the-top rhetoric that claimed the opposite and was found guilty of criminal contempt of court
    31 Jul 2017
    He was convicted of criminal contempt but was pardoned by Donald Trump before being sentenced
  • fearmongered that Mexico was bringing "crime" and "rapists" into the United States while at the same time having himself been credibly accused of rape and sexual assault by 25+ women
    25 Jun 2015
    According to multiple sources and reported on by multiple major outlets
  • State Rep. Bob Allen [R-FL]
    offered to perform oral sex on a random stranger in a public men's restroom for $20 mere months after he co-sponsored a bill that called for public sex offenses like this to be charged as a felony instead of misdemeanor offense
    10 Nov 2007
    According to charging documents filed by state officials
  • State Rep. Ted Klaudt [R-SD]
    hypocritically sponsored a plethora of bills that took a hard stance against child sex offenders when he sexually assaulted two foster children under his care
    18 May 2007
    According to charging documents filed by local police
  • Rep. Mark Foley [R-FL]
    offerred a 17-year-old boy working as a Congressional page oral sex in exchange for free lodgings at his home at the same time he was chair of a special Congressional committee dedicated to protecting exploited children
    02 Nov 2006
    According to voluminous reports filed by mainstream media outlets
  • District Attorney Richard Roach [R-TX]
    routinely stole methamphetamine and other strong narcotics from police evidence lockers and openly injected himself with drugs in front of his office secretary while also being a District Attorney who was a fervent prosecutor of drug offenses who secured very harsh drug sentences
    26 Jun 2006
    He pled guilty to multiple felony drug charges and was sentenced to 18 years in prison