consequences
Federal political scandals since 1970 — elected officials and cabinet officers — each scored 1–5 by the most severe documented consequence that followed. Every dot is cited.
Composition note: the abuse-of-power category leans 11 R / 4 D (its pre-2016 cell is 6 R / 1 D). The 2026 additions that brought in Democratic-administration entries were a targeted repair, not a second systematic pull. Every inclusion and exclusion is documented in the methodology.
Each involved a credible public allegation of misconduct and national coverage. The scale runs from conviction (5) down to nothing (1). Where a dot sits is a matter of record: the event, its date, and the receipts are attached to every one.
Sex, harassment, bribes, personal graft — the dots stay high. Severe consequences (resignation or worse) followed 60% of personal-conduct scandals before 2016 and 82% since. Personal enrichment ran 77% → 86%. Getting caught enriching yourself remains, as it has been for fifty years, a firing offense.
Using the office itself — against opponents, investigations, elections — drew severe consequences 71% of the time before 2016 (n=7). Since: 25% (n=8). The median consequence fell from level 4 to level 3.
Small cells; read carefully. Of the post-2016 dots that reached the severe bands, one is a fire-alarm misdemeanor plea and the other a secretary removed by her own president. Three of the 8 are one person.
Congress has held a cabinet-rank official in contempt three times. 1982: Anne Gorsuch Burford, 259–105, resigned within three months. 2012: Eric Holder, 255–67, served two more years and left on his own schedule. 2019: Wilbur Ross, 230–198, served out the term.
A “formal sanction” in 2019 is not the same event it was in 1982 — the votes got narrower and the consequence decayed from removal to nil. The shift predates 2016.
Lying to the public about war or policy — Iran-Contra, WMD, Benghazi, the census question — did not stop carrying consequences. It never carried them. 1 of 10 entries ever drew a severe consequence, under either party, in any decade.
Every entry below carries its record: what happened, what followed, and the receipts. The methodology page documents how the dataset was built and every exclusion.
All 89 entries, oldest first. Levels are assigned by the published rubric; see the methodology for every rule and exclusion.
Operatives tied to Nixon's reelection campaign broke into and wiretapped the Democratic National Committee's Watergate headquarters in June 1972; Nixon subsequently directed a cover-up that unraveled over the next two years of investigation. Facing impeachment and conviction after disclosure of the 'smoking gun' tape, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974.
What followed: Resigned the presidency rather than face near-certain impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate
A U.S. Attorney's investigation found Spiro Agnew had accepted cash bribes from Maryland contractors dating to his time as Baltimore County Executive and governor, payments that continued after he became Vice President. On October 10, 1973, Agnew resigned the vice presidency and simultaneously pleaded no contest to a single tax evasion charge, receiving a $10,000 fine and three years' unsupervised probation while the bribery and extortion charges were dropped.
What followed: Resigned as Vice President and, the same day, pleaded nolo contendere to one federal count of income tax evasion; the plea was accepted by the court, producing a judgment of conviction (fine plus probation, no prison)
Park Police stopped Wilbur Mills's car near the Tidal Basin at 2 a.m. on October 7, 1974; stripper Fanne Foxe, a passenger, jumped into the water as officers approached. Weeks later Mills appeared intoxicated on stage with Foxe at a Boston burlesque theater, and amid the fallout he stepped down as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and later acknowledged alcoholism.
What followed: Stepped down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee
Aboard a commercial flight following the 1976 Republican National Convention, Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz made a racist joke about Black Americans in front of entertainer Pat Boone and former Nixon counsel John Dean. Dean's account of the remark ran in Rolling Stone; amid the ensuing furor, Butz met with President Ford and resigned on October 4, 1976.
What followed: Resigned as Secretary of Agriculture after meeting with President Ford
In May 1976, Washington Post reporting quoted Elizabeth Ray, a clerk on Wayne Hays's House Administration Committee staff, saying she was hired as his mistress and performed no office work: "I can't type. I can't file. I can't even answer the phone." Hays initially denied the affair, then admitted it, gave up his committee chairmanship, and resigned from Congress on September 1, 1976, as the House Ethics Committee moved toward hearings.
What followed: Resigned from the House of Representatives
A Justice Department investigation found former Rep. Richard T. Hanna had received more than $200,000 from South Korean businessman Tongsun Park as part of a scheme to funnel Korean government influence to members of Congress, the affair known as Koreagate. Hanna, who had already left the House in 1975, pleaded guilty on March 17, 1978, three days before he was set to stand trial on 40 counts, and was sentenced to 6 to 30 months in federal prison, serving about a year.
What followed: Pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy/receiving payments from a foreign agent to influence Congress; sentenced to 6-30 months in federal prison and served about a year
Bert Lance resigned as President Carter's budget director in September 1977 after congressional and press scrutiny of overdraft and insider-loan practices at two Georgia banks he had led before joining the administration. He was indicted in May 1979 and tried in April 1980; a jury acquitted him on nine counts and deadlocked on the remainder, and prosecutors declined to retry the case.
What followed: Resigned as OMB Director on September 21, 1977, amid the banking-practices controversy; a federal grand jury indicted him in May 1979, and an April 1980 trial ended with a jury acquitting him on nine counts and deadlocking on the rest, which prosecutors declined to retry.
Rep. Charles Diggs (D-MI) was convicted on October 7, 1978, of mail fraud and filing false payroll forms after directing congressional staff to kick back inflated salaries to cover his personal and business debts. The House censured him 414-0 on July 31, 1979, and he resigned in June 1980 after exhausting his appeals, then served 14 months in federal prison.
What followed: Convicted in federal court on 11 counts of mail fraud and 18 counts of making false statements over a payroll kickback scheme; later served 14 months of a three-year prison sentence.
Rep. Daniel Flood (D-PA), chairman of a powerful House Appropriations subcommittee, was indicted in 1978 on charges of accepting more than $50,000 in bribes from contractors and lobbyists; a 1979 trial ended in a hung jury. He resigned from Congress on January 31, 1980, and shortly after pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count on February 26, 1980, receiving a year's probation.
What followed: Pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy tied to the bribery scheme, after an earlier bribery trial ended in a hung jury; sentenced to probation.
Sen. Herman Talmadge (D-GA) was denounced by the full Senate, 81-15, on October 11, 1979, for improperly claiming more than $43,000 in Senate expense reimbursements and filing inaccurate financial disclosures between 1973 and 1978. The vote cost him his Agriculture Committee chairmanship; he lost his Senate seat to Republican Mack Mattingly in the 1980 election.
What followed: Denounced by the full Senate, 81-15, for improper financial conduct involving false expense-account reimbursements and inaccurate financial disclosures; lost his Agriculture Committee chairmanship as a result.
Rep. John Jenrette (D-SC) was convicted of bribery and conspiracy in October 1980 after accepting a $50,000 cash payment from FBI agents posing as representatives of a wealthy Arab businessman during the Abscam sting. He lost re-election that November and resigned from the House on December 10, 1980, just before his term ended, and was later sentenced to two years in prison, serving 13 months.
What followed: Convicted by a federal jury on bribery and conspiracy charges in the Abscam sting; sentenced to two years in prison, five years' probation, and a $20,000 fine, and served 13 months.
Myers was videotaped in August 1979 accepting a $50,000 cash bribe from FBI agents posing as representatives of a wealthy Arab sheikh, part of the Abscam sting operation. A federal jury convicted him of bribery and conspiracy in August 1980, and the House expelled him that October, the first expulsion since the Civil War.
What followed: Convicted by a federal jury in Brooklyn of bribery, conspiracy, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering; sentenced to three years in prison.
Sen. Harrison A. Williams Jr. (D-NJ) was convicted on all nine counts of bribery, conspiracy, and related charges on May 1, 1981, after FBI videotapes from the Abscam sting showed him agreeing to use his influence on behalf of a fake Arab sheikh's business in exchange for a hidden stake in a titanium-mining venture. Facing near-certain Senate expulsion, he resigned on March 11, 1982 -- the only sitting senator of the era to face an expulsion vote -- and later served 21 months in federal prison.
What followed: Convicted by a federal jury in Brooklyn on all nine counts of bribery, conspiracy, and related charges in the Abscam sting; resigned from the Senate ahead of a near-certain expulsion vote and later served 21 months in federal prison.
EPA Administrator Anne Gorsuch (later Burford) withheld Superfund enforcement records from a House subcommittee subpoena on the White House's instructions, citing executive privilege. The House voted 259-105 on December 16, 1982 to hold her in contempt of Congress, the first such citation against a cabinet-level official; the White House reversed course and turned over the documents, and Burford resigned under pressure on March 9, 1983.
What followed: Resigned as EPA Administrator, tendered March 9, 1983 and announced March 10, 1983, under White House pressure roughly three months after the House voted 259-105 on December 16, 1982 to hold her in contempt of Congress — the first such citation against a cabinet-level official in U.S. history.
Rep. Fred Richmond (D-NY) pleaded guilty in federal court on August 25, 1982, to tax evasion, marijuana possession, and unlawfully supplementing the salary of a Navy Department employee's relative, and resigned from Congress the same day as part of a deal with prosecutors. He was later sentenced to a year and a day in prison and served roughly nine months.
What followed: Pleaded guilty in federal court to tax evasion, marijuana possession, and unlawfully supplementing a Navy Department employee's salary; resigned from the House the same day and was later sentenced to a year and a day in prison.
Crane admitted to the House Ethics Committee that he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female congressional page in 1980. The House voted 398-18 to censure him on July 20, 1983, the same day it censured Rep. Gerry Studds for a separate page relationship; Crane lost re-election in 1984.
What followed: Censured by the full House, 398-18, after the House Ethics Committee found he had sexual relations with a 17-year-old congressional page.
Studds acknowledged to the House Ethics Committee that he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male congressional page in 1973, including a two-week trip to Portugal. The House voted 420-3 to censure him on July 20, 1983, the same day it censured Rep. Dan Crane for a separate page relationship; Studds went on to win re-election in 1984 and every cycle through 1990.
What followed: Censured by the full House, 420-3, after the House Ethics Committee found he had sexual relations with a 17-year-old congressional page a decade earlier.
The Reagan administration secretly sold arms to Iran in 1985-86 and diverted proceeds to fund the Nicaraguan Contras in violation of congressional restrictions, while Reagan publicly denied trading arms for hostages. The Tower Commission's February 1987 report faulted his detached management style but found no evidence he knew of the diversion, and no formal consequence attached to Reagan himself.
What followed: The Tower Commission's report (Feb. 26-27, 1987) faulted Reagan's lax management style and aloofness from policy detail but found no evidence he knew of the diversion of funds to the Contras; he was never impeached, censured, or indicted and served out his full second term through January 1989.
A Manhattan federal jury convicted Biaggi in August 1988 of racketeering, extortion, and bribery for accepting Wedtech Corp. stock and payoffs in exchange for using his influence to secure Pentagon defense contracts for the company. He resigned from Congress the following day and was sentenced to eight years in prison that November.
What followed: Convicted by a Manhattan federal jury of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, extortion, bribe-taking, mail fraud, illegal receipt of a gratuity, and income tax evasion in the Wedtech case; sentenced to eight years in prison.
Edwin Meese resigned as Attorney General in August 1988 after a roughly 17-month independent counsel investigation into his ties to Wedtech Corp. and his friend and Wedtech lobbyist E. Robert Wallach. Independent Counsel James McKay's report concluded Meese had probably violated federal tax and conflict-of-interest law but did not recommend criminal charges, and Meese was never indicted.
What followed: Resigned as Attorney General amid the fallout from the independent counsel's Wedtech-related investigation of his ties to lobbyist E. Robert Wallach.
A federal grand jury indicted former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger on five felony counts in June 1992, alleging he lied to Congress and the FBI about his knowledge of the Iran arms sales and concealed detailed personal notes that contradicted his earlier testimony. President George H.W. Bush pardoned Weinberger on December 24, 1992, before the case went to trial.
What followed: Indicted by Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh on five felony counts (two of perjury, one of obstruction of justice, two of making false statements) for lying to Congress and the FBI about his knowledge of the Iran arms sales and for concealing his contemporaneous notes.
George H.W. Bush spent his 1988 campaign and presidency insisting he was "out of the loop" on the Reagan administration's Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages dealings. Four days before the 1992 election, newly surfaced notes from Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger's diary, made public by the Iran-Contra independent counsel, showed Bush had voiced support for the arms sale at a January 1986 meeting he had claimed not to recall.
What followed: Lost re-election to Bill Clinton four days after Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh's October 30, 1992 filing disclosed a Weinberger diary note undercutting Bush's "out of the loop" account
The Senate Select Committee on Ethics found that Sen. Alan Cranston substantially and improperly interfered with a federal regulatory investigation of Lincoln Savings and Loan on behalf of its owner, Charles Keating, after Keating-linked entities gave roughly $850,000 to voter-registration groups closely associated with Cranston. The committee reprimanded Cranston in November 1991, the most severe punishment given to any of the 'Keating Five' senators; he did not seek re-election in 1992.
What followed: Senate Select Committee on Ethics formally and severely reprimanded Cranston on the floor of the Senate for 'improper conduct'
The House Ethics Committee found that Rep. Barney Frank used his congressional office to fix 33 parking tickets for Steve Gobie, a male escort Frank had paid for sex and later employed to live in and manage his Capitol Hill apartment, and made misstatements about Gobie's probation record. The full House reprimanded Frank on July 26, 1990, after separately rejecting a Republican-led effort to expel him; Frank won re-election that November with roughly two-thirds of the vote.
What followed: House voted 408-18 to reprimand Frank (H.Res. 440); the same day the House separately voted down a motion to expel him (H.Res. 442)
Former Interior Secretary James Watt was indicted in February 1995 on 25 felony counts of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to Congress, a federal grand jury, and the FBI about his paid lobbying of HUD officials on behalf of housing developers after leaving the Reagan Cabinet. Watt pleaded guilty in January 1996 to a single misdemeanor count of withholding documents and was sentenced to probation, a fine, and community service.
What followed: Pleaded guilty to one federal misdemeanor count of withholding documents and information from a grand jury investigating the HUD influence-peddling scandal
The House Ethics Committee found in April 1989 that Speaker Jim Wright had committed 69 violations of House rules, principally through bulk sales of his book to interest groups that evaded limits on outside income and gifts to his wife from a Fort Worth developer. Wright announced his resignation as Speaker and from the House on May 31, 1989, becoming the first Speaker of the House to resign under pressure.
What followed: Announced his resignation as Speaker of the House and from Congress on the House floor
The U.S. Senate voted 96-0 to denounce Sen. David Durenberger in July 1990 for evading limits on outside income through book-royalty deals and for billing the Senate for travel reimbursements connected to a Minneapolis condominium he owned. He was indicted on felony expense-account charges in 1993, and in August 1995 pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of abuse of his Senate expense account, for which he was sentenced that November to probation and a fine.
What followed: Pleaded guilty to five federal misdemeanor counts of abuse of his Senate expense account
The Washington Post reported in late 1992 that numerous women had accused Senator Bob Packwood of unwanted sexual advances. A 33-month Senate Ethics Committee investigation found a pattern of misconduct against at least 17 women and concluded he had altered his diaries to obstruct the inquiry. Facing a unanimous committee recommendation to expel him, Packwood announced his resignation on the Senate floor in September 1995, effective October 1, 1995.
What followed: Resigned from the U.S. Senate, one day after the Senate Select Committee on Ethics voted unanimously to recommend his expulsion.
Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy resigned in October 1994, effective that December, after it emerged he had accepted gifts and favors from companies his department regulated, including a scholarship from a foundation run by Tyson Foods executive Don Tyson. An independent counsel indicted Espy on federal charges in August 1997; a jury acquitted him of all charges in December 1998, though Tyson Foods itself separately pleaded guilty to a related felony charge over the gifts.
What followed: Resigned as Secretary of Agriculture, effective December 31, 1994, amid the gifts investigation.
Allegations that Representative Mel Reynolds had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old former campaign volunteer became public in 1994. An Illinois jury convicted him in August 1995 on 12 counts including criminal sexual assault and obstruction of justice; he was sentenced to five years in prison the following month and resigned his House seat effective October 1, 1995.
What followed: Convicted on 12 counts including criminal sexual assault, sexual abuse, obstruction of justice, and solicitation of child pornography; sentenced to five years in prison.
Rostenkowski, the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, was indicted in 1994 on 17 counts arising from the House Post Office scandal, including allegations he used official payroll checks to pay employees who performed personal services and misused House stationery funds. He lost his House seat in the November 1994 election and pleaded guilty in April 1996 to two mail-fraud counts, receiving a 17-month prison sentence. He was pardoned by President Clinton in December 2000.
What followed: Pleaded guilty to two federal counts of mail fraud and was sentenced to 17 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution and fines.
The House Ethics Committee found that Speaker Newt Gingrich had used tax-exempt foundation money to finance a college course, 'Renewing American Civilization,' that in practice served a coordinated partisan political goal, and that he had given the committee inaccurate information about the financing. On January 21, 1997, the full House voted 395-28 to reprimand Gingrich and fine him $300,000, making him the first sitting Speaker sanctioned by the chamber.
What followed: The full House voted 395-28 to reprimand Gingrich and require him to pay $300,000 toward the cost of the ethics investigation, after the Ethics Committee found he had given it inaccurate, incomplete, and unreliable information.
Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), a leading critic of Bill Clinton's conduct during the Lewinsky impeachment proceedings, publicly admitted on September 4, 1998 that he had fathered a child during an extramarital affair in the early 1980s. He faced no formal sanction, retained his committee chairmanship, and won re-election that November.
What followed: Won re-election to the U.S. House in November 1998, months after the admission; no formal sanction followed and he served through 2012
President Bill Clinton's sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky became public in January 1998. The House of Representatives impeached him on December 19, 1998 on articles of perjury and obstruction of justice; a federal judge separately held him in civil contempt of court in April 1999 for false testimony in the Paula Jones case. The Senate acquitted him in February 1999 and he completed his term.
What followed: House of Representatives impeaches Clinton on articles of perjury and obstruction of justice
On his last day in office, Jan. 20, 2001, President Bill Clinton pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich, who had fled to Switzerland in 1983 to avoid trial on tax evasion, wire fraud, and illegal-trading-with-Iran charges. The pardon followed lobbying by Rich's ex-wife Denise Rich, a Democratic donor whose gifts to the Clinton library, the DNC, and Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign drew congressional hearings and a federal investigation into whether the donations bought the pardon; the probe closed in 2005 without charges against Clinton.
What followed: The House Government Reform Committee held hearings on the pardon beginning Feb. 8, 2001; a Justice Department investigation into whether Denise Rich's donations influenced the pardon, later led by then-U.S. Attorney James Comey, closed in 2005 with no charges against Clinton or anyone else.
Rep. Gary Condit (D-CA) acknowledged an extramarital affair with 24-year-old federal intern Chandra Levy, who disappeared in Washington, D.C. in May 2001; Condit was investigated but never charged in connection with her disappearance or death. He lost the March 2002 Democratic primary to former aide Dennis Cardoza by a wide margin, in a race widely attributed to fallout from the affair.
What followed: Lost the March 5, 2002 California Democratic primary to former aide Dennis Cardoza, 55% to 37%
U.S. Rep. James Traficant (D-OH) was indicted on May 4, 2001 on 10 federal counts including bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion tied to a kickback scheme involving staff pay and contractor favors. A jury convicted him on all counts on April 11, 2002; the House expelled him 420-1 on July 24, 2002; and he was sentenced to eight years in federal prison on July 30, 2002.
What followed: Sentenced to 8 years in federal prison and fined $150,000 after conviction on 10 counts of bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion
The Bush administration cited Iraqi weapons-of-mass-destruction programs as a primary justification for the March 2003 invasion; no stockpiles were found, and chief U.S. weapons inspector David Kay told Congress in January 2004 that prewar intelligence assessments were largely wrong. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's July 2004 report and the March 2005 Silberman-Robb Commission both concluded the prewar WMD judgments were unsupported by underlying intelligence and attributable to intelligence-community failures, while finding no evidence the assessments had been politicized. Bush was reelected in November 2004.
What followed: No formal consequence: Bush was not indicted, censured, or removed, and won reelection in November 2004, more than a year after chief weapons inspector David Kay's January 2004 testimony that prewar WMD assessments were wrong.
In July 2003, after former ambassador Joseph Wilson published a New York Times op-ed disputing the administration's Iraq-Niger uranium claims, Vice President Dick Cheney told his chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked at the CIA; Libby then discussed her employment with reporters before columnist Robert Novak published her identity. Cheney was not charged in the resulting investigation; Libby was convicted in 2007 of perjury and obstruction, had his prison sentence commuted by President Bush, and was pardoned by President Trump in 2018.
What followed: No formal consequence for Cheney: he was never charged in the CIA leak investigation, served as Vice President through the end of the term in January 2009, and the Bush-Cheney ticket won reelection in November 2004. His chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was separately convicted in 2007 of perjury and obstruction of justice for his own conduct in the case (Libby is out of this dataset's scope, which covers elected federal officials and Senate-confirmed cabinet officers).
First-term Rep. Bill Janklow (R-SD) ran a stop sign near Trent, South Dakota on August 16, 2003, killing motorcyclist Randy Scott in the collision. A Moody County jury convicted him of second-degree manslaughter on December 8, 2003; he resigned his House seat that day, effective January 20, 2004, and was sentenced to 100 days in jail on January 22, 2004.
What followed: Convicted by a Moody County jury of second-degree manslaughter for the August 16, 2003 crash that killed motorcyclist Randy Scott; later sentenced to 100 days in jail
Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California pleaded guilty on November 28, 2005 to accepting at least $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors, including cash, a Rolls-Royce, use of a yacht, and an inflated sale price on his home, in exchange for steering Pentagon contracts their way; he resigned from Congress the same day. He was sentenced on March 3, 2006 to 100 months in federal prison and ordered to forfeit more than $1.8 million and pay over $1.8 million in restitution.
What followed: Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services fraud, and tax evasion; resigned from the House the same day and was sentenced March 3, 2006 to 100 months (8 years, 4 months) in federal prison.
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was convicted by a Texas jury on November 24, 2010 of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering, tied to a 2002 scheme funneling $190,000 in corporate money to Texas legislative candidates through the Republican National Committee. He was sentenced to three years in prison in January 2011. On September 19, 2013, a divided Texas appeals court overturned the conviction, finding the evidence legally insufficient to sustain it; the reversal was affirmed by the state's highest criminal court in 2014.
What followed: Convicted by a Texas jury on November 24, 2010 of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering; sentenced in January 2011 to three years in prison (probated pending appeal). The conviction was overturned 2-1 by the Texas Third Court of Appeals on September 19, 2013, which ruled the evidence legally insufficient, and that reversal was upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2014.
FBI agents investigating Representative William Jefferson of Louisiana found $90,000 in cash wrapped in foil and stuffed in his home freezer in 2005, part of $100,000 he had been recorded accepting from a cooperating witness for use in bribing an African government official. Jefferson was convicted by a federal jury on August 5, 2009 on 11 corruption counts, including bribery, honest services fraud, and a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violation, and was sentenced on November 13, 2009 to 13 years in prison. (Part of the verdict was later vacated on appeal following the Supreme Court's Skilling ruling narrowing honest-services fraud, and he was resentenced, but the underlying bribery convictions stood.)
What followed: Convicted by a federal jury on August 5, 2009 on 11 of 16 corruption counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services fraud, violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and a RICO count; sentenced November 13, 2009 to 13 years in prison, at the time the longest sentence ever imposed for congressional corruption.
Representative Mark Foley of Florida resigned from Congress on September 29, 2006, hours after ABC News confronted him with sexually explicit instant messages he had sent to teenage congressional pages. A Florida criminal investigation into his conduct closed in September 2008 without charges.
What followed: Resigned from the House of Representatives the same day ABC News confronted him with sexually explicit instant messages he sent to teenage congressional pages.
Representative Bob Ney of Ohio pleaded guilty on October 13, 2006 to conspiracy and making false statements for accepting trips, meals, gambling chips, and other gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a foreign businessman in exchange for official acts, and for concealing those gifts on financial disclosure and customs forms. He resigned from Congress on November 3, 2006 and was sentenced on January 19, 2007 to 30 months in federal prison, longer than the 27 months prosecutors had recommended.
What followed: Pleaded guilty on October 13, 2006 to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to making false statements; resigned from the House effective November 3, 2006; sentenced January 19, 2007 to 30 months in federal prison and a $6,000 fine.
Senator Larry Craig of Idaho was arrested June 11, 2007 for lewd conduct in a men's restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly-conduct charge, a plea entered with the Hennepin County court on August 8, 2007. The plea became public in late August; Craig briefly announced he would resign, then reversed that decision after courts repeatedly denied his attempts to withdraw the plea, and served out the remainder of his Senate term without seeking re-election.
What followed: Pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly-conduct charge stemming from his June 11, 2007 arrest for lewd conduct in a Minneapolis-St. Paul airport restroom; the plea petition was signed August 1, 2007 and entered with the Hennepin County District Court on August 8, 2007.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged in a March 2007 interview that he had been having an extramarital affair with a congressional staffer while leading the House's impeachment case against Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky affair. He had already left Congress in January 1999 for unrelated reasons (1998 election losses, a 1997 ethics reprimand) and faced no additional formal consequence when the affair itself became public; a 2012 resurfacing of the story, two days before the South Carolina presidential primary, was followed by a Gingrich landslide win in that primary.
What followed: No formal sanction, resignation, or electoral defeat has been documented as resulting from the affair
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation on August 27, 2007, effective September 17, after months of controversy over the December 2006 dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys and questions about whether he misled Congress regarding his role. A Justice Department inspector general report later concluded he bore primary responsibility for the flawed, politicized firing process.
What followed: Resigned as Attorney General, effective September 17, 2007, after months of bipartisan calls to step down over the U.S. attorneys firings and his congressional testimony about them.
Representative Charles Rangel of New York was found guilty by a House Ethics subcommittee on November 16, 2010 of 11 violations of chamber rules, including failing to pay taxes on rental income from a villa he owned in the Dominican Republic, failing to report more than $600,000 in assets on his financial disclosure, and using his official letterhead to solicit donations for a college center bearing his name. The full House voted 333-79 to censure him on December 2, 2010.
What followed: Censured by the full House of Representatives, 333-79, following an Ethics Committee finding of 11 violations of House rules.
Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was convicted on October 27, 2008 on all seven felony counts of concealing more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from oil-services executive Bill Allen on his Senate financial disclosure forms. He narrowly lost re-election days later. On April 7, 2009, Judge Emmet Sullivan vacated the conviction and ordered a criminal inquiry into the prosecution team after finding prosecutors had repeatedly withheld exculpatory evidence; the Justice Department then moved to dismiss the case rather than retry it.
What followed: Convicted by a federal jury on all seven felony counts of making false statements on Senate financial disclosure forms, concealing gifts and renovations from VECO Corp.
Senator John Ensign of Nevada admitted on June 16, 2009 to an affair with campaign staffer Cynthia Hampton, wife of his former senior aide Doug Hampton; it later emerged that Ensign's parents had given the Hampton family $96,000 in April 2008. Facing a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into the affair and the payments, Ensign announced his resignation on April 21, 2011, effective May 3, 2011.
What followed: Resigned from the Senate, effective May 3, 2011, while the Senate Ethics Committee was investigating his handling of the affair and the payments to the Hamptons; the committee chair later said the evidence was substantial enough to have warranted consideration of expulsion had he not resigned.
The Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder withheld internal documents subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee's investigation into the ATF's botched 'Fast and Furious' gun-walking operation. On June 28, 2012, the House voted 255-67 to hold Holder in contempt of Congress, the first sitting cabinet officer to be so sanctioned; no further legal or political consequence followed.
What followed: The House voted 255-67 on June 28, 2012 to hold Holder in criminal contempt of Congress (Roll Call 441, H. Res. 711), the first sitting cabinet officer so sanctioned.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) admitted on June 6, 2011 that he had lied about a lewd photo tweeted from his account, acknowledging explicit online and phone exchanges with about six women over three years. Facing pressure from House Democratic leadership, he announced his resignation on June 16, 2011, effective June 21.
What followed: Announced his resignation from the U.S. House on June 16, 2011, effective June 21, 2011, after admitting to sending lewd photos and having inappropriate online exchanges with several women.
Rep. David Wu (D-OR) faced allegations that he had an unwanted sexual encounter with the 18-year-old daughter of a campaign donor and longtime friend, first reported by The Oregonian in July 2011. After House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for an ethics investigation and Oregon's senators urged him to resign, Wu announced on July 26, 2011 that he would step down, formally resigning effective August 3, 2011.
What followed: Announced his resignation from the U.S. House on July 26, 2011, after Oregon's two Democratic senators called on him to step down; formally resigned effective August 3, 2011.
State Department officials, including U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, initially described the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya — which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans — as arising from a spontaneous protest over an anti-Muslim video, an account later contradicted by witness accounts and withdrawn. The department's Accountability Review Board, reporting Dec. 18, 2012, found systemic security failures and leadership deficiencies at senior levels of the department Clinton led, but did not recommend disciplinary action against any individual employee. Clinton's subsequent Nov. 2016 presidential election loss is scored under the clinton-emails entry, not here, under the dataset's single-attribution rule for correlated electoral defeats.
What followed: The State Department's Accountability Review Board, in a report released Dec. 18, 2012, found 'systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies' in the department's security posture but explicitly declined to find reasonable cause that any individual employee had breached his or her duty, recommending no disciplinary action; Clinton was not indicted, censured, or removed, and completed her term as Secretary of State in Feb. 2013.
U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice told Sunday news programs on September 16, 2012 that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi arose from a spontaneous protest over an anti-Muslim video, a characterization drawn from CIA talking points that was later shown to be inaccurate. Facing sustained Republican opposition over the talking points, Rice withdrew from consideration for Secretary of State on December 13, 2012, before any nomination was formally submitted to the Senate; she remained U.N. Ambassador and was named National Security Advisor the following June.
What followed: No formal sanction attached to her actual office; Rice remained U.N. Ambassador and was promoted to National Security Advisor on June 5, 2013.
Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) pleaded guilty on February 20, 2013 to conspiring to defraud his campaign of more than $750,000, spent on personal items including a Rolex watch, fur capes, celebrity memorabilia, and home renovations, while filing false reports with the FEC and the House to conceal the scheme. He was sentenced on August 14, 2013 to 30 months in federal prison; his wife, Sandi Jackson, received a 12-month sentence on a related tax charge.
What followed: Pleaded guilty on February 20, 2013 to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud; sentenced August 14, 2013 to 30 months in federal prison.
A VA Inspector General interim report made public May 28, 2014 found evidence that VA hospital staff, including at the Phoenix VA, kept secret waiting lists and manipulated scheduling records to hide treatment delays of up to 115 days, a systemic practice the IG said had been flagged repeatedly since 2005. Facing bipartisan calls to resign, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki apologized and resigned on May 30, 2014; President Obama said he accepted the resignation "with considerable regret."
What followed: Resigned as Secretary of Veterans Affairs on May 30, 2014, two days after a VA Inspector General report found evidence of secret wait lists and manipulated records at VA hospitals.
Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server for State Department business, first reported in March 2015, led the FBI to review tens of thousands of emails, ultimately finding 110 that contained information classified at the time sent. On July 5, 2016, Director James Comey announced the FBI found no evidence of criminal intent but that Clinton and her staff had been 'extremely careless,' and recommended no charges. Eleven days before the November 2016 election, Comey told Congress the FBI was reviewing newly discovered emails, reviving the story; he closed that review without new charges on Nov. 6. Clinton lost the presidential election to Donald Trump two days later; pollster analyses since have found mixed evidence on whether the late-October letter changed the outcome.
What followed: Lost the Nov. 8, 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump, twelve days after FBI Director Comey's Oct. 28, 2016 letter to Congress announcing a review of newly discovered emails revived the controversy in the campaign's final stretch.
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert pleaded guilty on October 28, 2015 to illegally structuring bank withdrawals to conceal $1.7 million in payments made to hide his sexual abuse of students decades earlier as an Illinois wrestling coach. He was sentenced April 27, 2016 to 15 months in federal prison; the sentencing judge called him a "serial child molester."
What followed: Pleaded guilty to a federal charge of illegally structuring cash withdrawals to conceal the hush-money payments; sentenced April 27, 2016 to 15 months in federal prison, two years of supervised release, sex-offender treatment, and a $250,000 fine.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and campaign donor Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist, were indicted on April 1, 2015 on federal conspiracy, bribery, and honest services fraud charges; prosecutors alleged Menendez accepted flights, luxury vacations, and campaign contributions from Melgen in exchange for intervening in a Medicare billing dispute and visa matters on Melgen's behalf. The 2017 trial ended in a hung jury and mistrial on November 16, 2017, and the Justice Department moved to dismiss the remaining charges in January 2018.
What followed: Indicted April 1, 2015 on federal conspiracy, bribery, and honest services fraud charges; the 2017 trial ended in a hung jury and mistrial, and the Justice Department dropped the remaining charges in January 2018.
Representative Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania was convicted by a federal jury on June 21, 2016 on 23 counts of racketeering conspiracy, fraud, bribery, and money laundering, stemming from a scheme to repay an illegal $1 million loan from his failed 2007 Philadelphia mayoral campaign by funneling federal grant and charitable funds through an educational nonprofit. He was sentenced December 12, 2016 to 10 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $600,000 in restitution.
What followed: Convicted by a federal jury on June 21, 2016 of 23 counts including racketeering conspiracy, fraud, bribery, and money laundering; sentenced December 12, 2016 to 10 years in federal prison.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch met privately with former President Bill Clinton aboard her government plane in Phoenix on June 27, 2016, days before the FBI concluded its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, an investigation Lynch's department was overseeing. The meeting drew bipartisan criticism; Lynch said she would accept the recommendation of the career agents and prosecutors handling the case rather than formally recuse herself. A June 2018 Justice Department Inspector General report called the meeting an error in judgment for the appearance it created, but found no evidence the investigation itself was discussed and no misconduct.
What followed: The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General, in a June 14, 2018 report, found the June 27, 2016 tarmac meeting was an 'error in judgment' for the appearance it created but found no evidence the Clinton email investigation itself was discussed and no misconduct or political bias; Lynch was not indicted, censured, or removed, and her subsequent voluntary decision to accept career investigators' recommendation rather than formally recuse was not itself a sanction.
Representative Corrine Brown of Florida was convicted by a federal jury on May 11, 2017 of 18 of 22 counts, including mail and wire fraud and tax fraud, for using a bogus charity, One Door for Education, to solicit more than $800,000 in donations that went to personal expenses and lavish events rather than the scholarships it claimed to fund. She was sentenced December 4, 2017 to 5 years in federal prison.
What followed: Convicted by a federal jury on May 11, 2017 of 18 of 22 counts including mail and wire fraud, tax fraud, and lying on congressional financial disclosures; sentenced December 4, 2017 to 5 years in federal prison.
Representative John Conyers of Michigan, the longest-serving member of the House at the time, resigned effective December 5, 2017 amid a House Ethics Committee inquiry after Buzzfeed News revealed a $27,000 confidential settlement paid to a former staffer over a 2015 wrongful-dismissal claim tied to sexual-harassment allegations, and additional women came forward with accusations of inappropriate touching and verbal abuse spanning decades. Conyers denied the allegations at the time of his resignation.
What followed: Announced his immediate retirement from the House on December 5, 2017, amid a House Ethics Committee inquiry following revelations of the $27,000 settlement and multiple sexual-harassment accusations.
Senator Al Franken of Minnesota announced on December 7, 2017 that he would resign after at least eight women accused him of groping or forcibly kissing them, including a widely circulated 2006 USO-tour photo. His resignation took effect January 2, 2018, after 35 of his fellow Senate Democrats called for him to step down.
What followed: Announced on December 7, 2017 that he would resign from the Senate after 35 Democratic senators called for his resignation; the resignation took effect January 2, 2018.
Greg Gianforte, then the Republican candidate in Montana's special congressional election, body-slammed Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs at a campaign event on May 24, 2017, the day before the election, after Jacobs asked him about the CBO's health-care analysis. He won the election the next day and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault on June 12, 2017, receiving a deferred sentence, community service, and a fine but no jail time.
What followed: Pleaded guilty June 12, 2017 to misdemeanor assault for body-slamming Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs on May 24, 2017; sentenced to a deferred six-month sentence, 40 hours community service, 20 hours anger-management training, and a $385 fine, with no jail time.
Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) was charged in August 2018 with insider trading after tipping his son to dump stock in Innate Immunotherapeutics ahead of a failed drug-trial announcement, allowing his son and others to avoid roughly $800,000 in losses. He resigned from Congress on September 30, 2019, pleaded guilty the next day to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and lying to the FBI, and was sentenced to 26 months in federal prison on January 17, 2020. President Trump granted him a full pardon on December 23, 2020, after Collins had begun serving the sentence.
What followed: Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and lying to federal investigators; sentenced to 26 months in federal prison
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross pushed to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census over career-staff objections; the Supreme Court found the administration's stated rationale "contrived" in Department of Commerce v. New York. On July 17, 2019, the House voted 230-198 to hold Ross and Attorney General William Barr in criminal contempt of Congress for withholding subpoenaed documents on the decision-making process.
What followed: The House voted 230-198 on July 17, 2019 to hold Ross and Attorney General William Barr in criminal contempt of Congress (Roll Call 489, H. Res. 497) for withholding subpoenaed documents on the citizenship-question decision.
The Wall Street Journal reported in January 2018 that Trump's attorney Michael Cohen arranged a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to silence her account of an alleged affair; Cohen publicly confirmed making the payment in February 2018. A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records on March 30, 2023, and a jury convicted him on all 34 counts on May 30, 2024, making him the first former U.S. president convicted of a felony.
What followed: Convicted by a Manhattan jury on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records
A conservative blog reported on October 18, 2019 that Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) had an alleged relationship with a member of her congressional staff, prompting a House Ethics Committee investigation; intimate photos of Hill were also published without her consent. Hill announced her resignation on October 27, 2019, acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a campaign staffer before she took office; her resignation took effect November 3, 2019.
What followed: Announced her resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives amid the ethics investigation; resignation took effect November 3, 2019
E. Jean Carroll publicly accused Donald Trump in a June 2019 memoir of sexually assaulting her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. A federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation and awarded Carroll $5 million on May 9, 2023; a second jury awarded her an additional $83.3 million in compensatory and punitive defamation damages on January 26, 2024. Both were civil judgments; no criminal charges were filed over the underlying conduct.
What followed: Federal civil juries found Trump liable for sexual abuse/battery and defamation, awarding Carroll $5 million (2023) and an additional $83.3 million (2024)
Donald Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 2019 call to investigate Joe Biden and his son while withholding congressionally approved military aid; a whistleblower complaint about the call became public in September 2019. The House of Representatives impeached Trump on December 18, 2019 on articles of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress; the Senate acquitted him on both articles on February 5, 2020.
What followed: House of Representatives impeached Trump on articles of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress
U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) faced a cascade of controversies through 2021-2022, including a 2021 BuzzFeed News report alleging he harassed female college classmates, a leaked video showing him naked with a male friend, unsubstantiated public claims that colleagues used cocaine and attended orgies, and a House Ethics Committee investigation opened May 23, 2022 into alleged insider trading tied to a cryptocurrency promotion. He lost the May 17, 2022 Republican primary to State Sen. Chuck Edwards, with national coverage attributing the loss to the accumulation of scandal, though causation is not established by that reporting alone.
What followed: Lost renomination in the North Carolina 11th District Republican primary to State Sen. Chuck Edwards
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was investigated by the Justice Department starting in 2021 over alleged sex trafficking and a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old; DOJ declined to file charges in 2023. After Trump nominated Gaetz for Attorney General in November 2024, Gaetz resigned his House seat and then withdrew from consideration on November 21, 2024, once it became clear senators would not confirm him; the House Ethics Committee's report, released December 23, 2024, found he had regularly paid for sex and had sex with a 17-year-old in 2017.
What followed: Withdrew as President-elect Trump's nominee for U.S. Attorney General
U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) posted a manipulated anime video on November 7, 2021 depicting himself killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Biden. The House voted 223-207 on November 17, 2021 to censure Gosar and strip him of his seats on the Natural Resources and Oversight and Reform Committees, making him the 24th member in House history to be censured.
What followed: Censured by the full House and removed from the Natural Resources and Oversight and Reform Committees via H.Res. 789
Donald Trump was impeached a second time by the House of Representatives on January 13, 2021, on a single article charging incitement of insurrection after his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6; the Senate acquitted him on February 13, 2021. A federal grand jury separately indicted Trump in August 2023 on four felony counts arising from the same effort to overturn the 2020 election; special counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss that case in November 2024 following Trump's election to a second term, and a judge granted the dismissal.
What followed: House of Representatives impeached Trump a second time on a single article of incitement of insurrection
U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-NY), after widespread reporting exposed fabrications in his campaign biography, was expelled from the House 311-114 on December 1, 2023 — only the sixth member expelled in House history. He pleaded guilty on August 19, 2024 to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, admitting he stole the identities of donors, including family members, to inflate campaign fundraising totals, and was sentenced on April 25, 2025 to 87 months in federal prison plus restitution and forfeiture. President Trump commuted Santos's sentence on October 17, 2025, after he had served about three months; the commutation shortened the sentence but left the underlying conviction on his record.
What followed: Sentenced to 87 months (7 years, 3 months) in federal prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, after pleading guilty in August 2024
The FBI's August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, which recovered classified documents former President Trump had retained after leaving office, led to a federal grand jury indictment on June 8, 2023 (unsealed June 9) charging him with 37 felony counts of willfully retaining national defense information and obstructing efforts to recover it; a superseding indictment in July 2023 added three more counts. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case on July 15, 2024, ruling special counsel Jack Smith's appointment was unconstitutional. The special counsel's office appealed, but moved to drop the appeal as to Trump himself on November 25, 2024 after his election win, consistent with DOJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president; the appeals court granted that dismissal on November 27, 2024, so the case never went to trial.
What followed: Indicted by a federal grand jury on 37 felony counts (later 40, via superseding indictment) of willful retention of national defense information and obstruction
CBS News reported on Jan. 9, 2023 that lawyers for President Biden had found classified documents from his vice-presidential years at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.; additional classified material subsequently turned up at his Wilmington, Delaware home. Special Counsel Robert Hur's Feb. 8, 2024 report found Biden had willfully retained some classified material after leaving the vice presidency but concluded no criminal charges were warranted, crediting his voluntary cooperation with consent searches, a voluntary interview, and the prompt return of documents. Unlike the parallel case against Donald Trump, Hur's report did not find obstruction.
What followed: Special Counsel Robert Hur's Feb. 8, 2024 report declined to recommend criminal charges, citing insufficient evidence to prove willful retention beyond a reasonable doubt and crediting Biden's cooperation — consent searches of the Penn Biden Center and his Delaware home, a voluntary interview, and prompt return of the documents; a June 2024 House Oversight contempt vote targeted Attorney General Merrick Garland over withheld interview audio, not Biden personally.
On September 30, 2023, Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building minutes before a House vote on a stopgap spending bill, temporarily evacuating the building; he said he mistakenly believed it would open a locked door. He pleaded guilty on October 26, 2023 to one misdemeanor count of falsely pulling a fire alarm, agreeing to a $1,000 fine, and the House voted 214-191 on December 7, 2023 to censure him. He lost the June 2024 Democratic primary to George Latimer.
What followed: Pleaded guilty in D.C. Superior Court to one misdemeanor count of falsely pulling a fire alarm.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), his wife Nadine, and three New Jersey businessmen were indicted on September 22, 2023 on federal bribery charges after FBI agents found gold bars and more than $480,000 in cash hidden in the Menendez home; prosecutors alleged the senator used his office to benefit the businessmen and the governments of Egypt and Qatar. A federal jury convicted Menendez on all 16 counts on July 16, 2024, and he resigned from the Senate effective August 20, 2024.
What followed: A federal jury convicted Menendez on all 16 counts, including bribery, obstruction of justice, extortion, and acting as a foreign agent, on July 16, 2024; he announced his resignation from the Senate on July 23, 2024, effective August 20, 2024.
New York Attorney General Letitia James's civil fraud suit against former President Trump, the Trump Organization, and his adult sons concluded on February 16, 2024, when Judge Arthur Engoron found the defendants had persistently inflated asset values on financial statements and ordered Trump to pay nearly $355 million (about $364 million including co-defendants), with interest bringing the total above $450 million, and barred him from running a New York company for three years. On August 21, 2025, a divided New York appeals court upheld the fraud finding but struck down the monetary penalty as an unconstitutionally excessive fine, while leaving the business-leadership restrictions intact; the Attorney General's office said it would appeal that reduction to New York's highest court.
What followed: New York Judge Arthur Engoron entered judgment against Trump for business fraud, ordering him to pay roughly $355 million (about $364 million including co-defendants), plus interest, and barring him from serving as an officer or director of a New York company for three years
On February 13, 2024, the House voted 214-213 to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on charges of willfully refusing to enforce immigration law and breaching public trust, making him the first Cabinet secretary impeached since 1876. On April 17, 2024, the Senate voted along party lines to dismiss both articles as unconstitutional without holding a trial, and Mayorkas remained in office through the end of the term.
What followed: Impeached by the House of Representatives, 214-213.
A federal grand jury indicted Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick on November 19, 2025 on charges of laundering a $5 million FEMA overpayment intended for her family's COVID-19 vaccination staffing company, with prosecutors alleging a substantial portion was diverted to her 2021 congressional campaign; she faced up to 53 years in prison if convicted. On March 27, 2026, the House Ethics Committee found her guilty of 25 of 27 charged violations, and on April 21, 2026, she resigned from Congress minutes before the House was set to consider sanctions, including possible expulsion.
What followed: Resigned from the House minutes before an Ethics Committee hearing on possible sanctions, including expulsion.
The Department of Labor's inspector general investigated allegations that Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer drank alcohol in her office during work hours, had a relationship with a member of her security detail, and had her chief of staff fabricate official reasons for personal travel; separately, at least three current or former staffers filed workplace-discrimination complaints alleging a toxic office environment and retaliation. Two of her senior aides resigned amid the probe, and on April 20, 2026, Chavez-DeRemer herself resigned, becoming the third Trump Cabinet member to leave within two months; Keith Sonderling became acting secretary.
What followed: Resigned as Secretary of Labor.
The San Antonio Express-News reported on an extramarital affair between Rep. Tony Gonzales and Regina Santos-Aviles, a former regional director on his staff who died by suicide in September 2025; Gonzales, who had previously called affair rumors "completely untruthful," admitted to the relationship on March 4, 2026, and the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation. After finishing second in the March 2026 Republican primary and facing bipartisan calls for his expulsion amid a separate wave of misconduct allegations against Rep. Eric Swalwell, Gonzales resigned from the House on April 14, 2026.
What followed: Resigned from the U.S. House.
ProPublica reported that a Republican consulting firm with personal and business ties to Secretary Kristi Noem and her senior DHS aides secretly received a share of $220 million in no-bid DHS advertising contracts awarded after the agency invoked emergency authority to skirt competitive-bidding rules; lawmakers requested documents and an investigation. Days after Noem told Congress her boss had signed off on the campaign, and amid separate controversy over ICE's handling of immigration operations, President Trump fired her as Homeland Security Secretary on March 5, 2026, naming Sen. Markwayne Mullin as her successor and reassigning Noem to a newly created envoy role.
What followed: Fired as Secretary of Homeland Security by President Trump.
In April 2026, CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a former staffer accused Rep. Eric Swalwell of sexual assault, and three other women alleged additional misconduct including unsolicited explicit messages; Swalwell denied the allegations. He suspended his campaign for California governor, and after the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation and colleagues raised the prospect of expulsion, Swalwell submitted his resignation to the House clerk, effective April 14, 2026.
What followed: Resigned from the U.S. House, effective 2:00 p.m. ET.