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Ulysses S. Grant -

Ulysses S. Grant served as president from 1869 to 1877. And while he wasn't accused of a very serious crime (by today's standards at least), President Grant did brake the law. How? Well, he was caught speeding in his horse-drawn carriage!

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Ulysses S. Grant -

And if that wasn't enough, President Grant was caught speeding again the following day by the same police officer, whose name was William H. West. Grant may have escaped with just a warning the first time, but this time he was taken to the police station and fined US$20 (quite the pretty penny at the time).

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Warren G. Harding -

A rumored poker player and womanizer, President Harding and his administration were plagued by accusations of corruption.

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Warren G. Harding -

The most infamous bribery scandal under Harding's administration was the Teapot Dome Scandal. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall took control of oil reserves in Wyoming and California, then lucrative deals were struck with private oil companies (which happened to be run by his friends) without competitive bidding.

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Warren G. Harding -

However, Warren G. Harding passed away on August 2, 1923, and was never tried for corruption after the scandal broke out.

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Harry S. Truman -

President Truman led the country during World War II, and as such he was the man behind the destruction caused by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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Harry S. Truman -

His decision has been debated by many experts. Some say he had no choice, and failure to do so would have resulted in even more deaths, as Japan wouldn't have surrendered.

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Harry S. Truman -

Others, as reported by The Irish Times, said the bombings had no "moral or military justification," and that "it was a crime against humanity." Regardless of which side you take, Harry S. Truman was never tried for war crimes.

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Richard Nixon -

Richard Nixon is best known for one of the most high-profile scandals to ever hit American politics. Of course, we're talking about Watergate.

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Richard Nixon -

In June of 1972, five men connected to Nixon's administration were caught at the Watergate Hotel complex, where the Democratic National Convention was taking place. In total, seven people were charged with burglary and wiretapping.

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Richard Nixon -

The scandal led to Nixon's resignation on August 8, 1974. As such, he was not impeached under accusations of obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. Richard Nixon was eventually pardoned.

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Ronald Reagan -

The Iran-Contra Affair took place in 1986, when the US traded missiles and other arms to free American hostages who were being held by terrorists in Lebanon.

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Ronald Reagan -

The Reagan administration then used funds from the arms deal to support the right-wing rebel Contras during the armed conflict in Nicaragua.

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Ronald Reagan -

"​​A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not. The way I work is to identify the problem, find the right individuals to do the job, and then let them go to it," said the then-president. Reagan was never accused of illegal arms smuggling.

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Bill Clinton -

In 1998, a scandal broke out following Bill Clinton's affair with 23-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On January 26, 1998, the president addressed the nation, saying: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky." Except, later evidence proved that he had.

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Bill Clinton -

Clinton testified before the Office of Independent Counsel admitting that his relationship had been "inappropriate," but that he didn't "lie, hide, or destroy evidence" or take "any unlawful action."

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Bill Clinton -

The House of Representatives impeached Clinton on perjury and obstruction of justice. On February 12, 1999, after a five-week trial, President Clinton was acquitted on both charges.

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George W. Bush -

George W. Bush was never impeached, but his administration conducted the invasion of Iraq in 2003, which later led to accusations of war crimes.

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George W. Bush -

According to a White House press release, the aim was to "disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction." Except, after the country was invaded, no evidence of weapons of mass destruction was found.

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George W. Bush -

In 2012, the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission found George W. Bush, and other members of his administration, guilty of war crimes. Witness accounts from victims of torture  at the hands of US soldiers were heard during the trial.

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Barack Obama -

In 2013, the UN reported that the Obama administration's drone strike campaign violated international law, and that the president lacked transparency and failed to acknowledge drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.

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Barack Obama -

"Two of these attacks were in clear violation of international humanitarian law—the laws of war—because they struck only civilians or used indiscriminate weapons," said Human Rights Watch about Obama's Yemen strikes.

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Barack Obama -

In total, the Obama administration launched 542 drone strikes, and 3,797 people died as a result, 324 of whom were civilians.

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Donald Trump -

Donald Trump was impeached on December 18, 2019, on allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The allegation was that Trump had threatened Ukraine by withholding military aid until Hunter Biden's activity in the country had been investigated.

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Donald Trump -

"The facts are uncontested. The president abused his power for his own political benefit at the expense of our national security, by withholding military aid and a crucial Oval Office meeting in exchange for an announcement for an investigation into his political rival," said Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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Donald Trump -

All Democrats voted for Trump's impeachment, while all but one Republican (Senator Mitt Romney) voted against it. The Senate was controlled by the Republicans, so Trump was acquitted.

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Donald Trump -

Though it didn't take long for Donald Trump to be in the news again. This time it was in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, following  Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election. On this occasion, Trump was impeached for "incitement of insurrection."

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Donald Trump -

Trump disputed the legitimacy of Biden's victory, and in his speech said things such as "I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard." Trump's words were blamed for the chaos that unfolded.

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Donald Trump -

"If this is not a high crime and misdemeanor against the United States of America then nothing is ... President Trump must be convicted, for the safety and democracy of our people," said Congressman Jaime Raskin. Though, just like the first time, Donald Trump was acquitted.

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Donald Trump -

Trump announced that the FBI raided his Mar-A-Lago, Florida, home on August 8, 2022, as they executed a search warrant on the property—an unprecedented action which requires probable cause that a crime was committed, said CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig, as per Deadline.

The New York Times reports that the raid was related to an investigation of boxes of classified material that were brought to Mar-A-Lago after Trump’s presidency instead of turned over to the National Archives where they should have gone. And all this of course came as the Justice Department has been investigating Trump’s actions regarding the January 6th siege on the Capitol.

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Donald Trump -

Then on December 6, 2022, Trump's family real estate company was found guilty of tax crimes after two days of jury deliberations in New York. The Trump Organization was found guilty of a 15-year-long criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities that included enriching its top executives with off-the-books benefits for more than a decade which made up for lower salaries and thus reduced the amount of tax the business was required to pay, the BBC reports. The company is set to face a fine of around US$1.6 million and will likely find difficulty when securing loans and financing in the future. Trump had previously called the case, "the Greatest Political Witch Hunt in the History of our Country." 

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Donald Trump -

On April 4, former President Donald Trump became the first US president to be arrested on criminal charges. He arrived at a Manhattan courthouse to turn himself in to the NYPD, where he was fingerprinted and ultimately pled not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He was arrested in connection to the Manhattan district attorney's years-long investigation into hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.  

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Joe Biden -

Tara Reade, who worked as staff assistant for then-Senator Joe Biden from 1992 to 1993, accused him of sexual assault, the allegations coming out during his presidential election campaign in 2020. Biden denied the accusation, and thus far nothing has been proven.

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Joe Biden -

In March 2019, Nevada Democrat Lucy Flores accused Biden of smelling her hair and kissing the back of her head during a political rally in 2014.

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Joe Biden -

But Reade and Flores were not the only women to come forward with similar accusations. By 2020 at least eight women had accused Joe Biden of behaving inappropriately. 

Sources: (People) (Time) (CNN) (The Guardian) (Grunge) (The Irish Times) (BBC) (The Cut)

See also: Famous figures accused of sexual misconduct

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