"Criminalization of politics" is a political buzzword in the United States used in the media, by commentators, bloggers as well as by defenders of high-ranking government officials who have been indicted or have faced criminal or ethical investigations.
The position of many Democrats is that the number of investigations is the result of a "culture of corruption" established by the Republicans in power, and that anyone who has broken laws or rules must face the consequences. The opponents also point out that some of the politicians denouncing the current pursuit of alleged Republican misconduct have in the past called for vigorous pursuit of alleged Democratic misconduct.
The phrase was previously used by supporters of President Bill Clinton in reference to legal action against members of his administration, including Henry Cisneros. During the Watergate scandal, supporters of Richard Nixon claimed that he was guilty of nothing more than "hard-ball politics."
The Whitewater controversy, Whitewater scandal, Whitewatergate, or simply Whitewater, was an American political controversy during the 1990s. It began with an investigation into the real estate investments of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their associates, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, in the Whitewater Development Corporation. This failed business venture was incorporated in 1979 with the purpose of developing vacation properties on land along the White River near Flippin, Arkansas.
The Clinton–Lewinsky scandal was a sex scandal involving Bill Clinton, the president of the United States, and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. Their sexual relationship began in 1995—when Clinton was 49 years old and Lewinsky was 22 years old—and lasted 18 months, ending in 1997. Clinton ended a televised speech in late January 1998 with the later infamous statement: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky." Further investigation led to charges of perjury and to the impeachment of Clinton in 1998 by the U.S. House of Representatives. He was subsequently acquitted on all impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day U.S. Senate trial.
John Dennis Hastert is an American politician and sex offender who represented Illinois's 14th congressional district from 1987 to 2007 and served as the 51st speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007. The longest-serving Republican speaker of the House in history, Hastert resigned and began work as a lobbyist after the Democrats gained a majority in the chamber in 2007. In 2016 he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for the sexual abuse of teenage boys.
Alexander N. Green is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative from Texas's 9th congressional district since 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, Green served as the justice of the peace of Harris County, Texas from 1977 to 2004. The 9th district includes most of southwestern Houston and part of Fort Bend County, including most of Missouri City.
"Vast right-wing conspiracy" is a phrase popularized by a 1995 memo by political opposition researcher Chris Lehane and then referenced in 1998 by the then First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton, in defense of her husband, President Bill Clinton, characterizing the continued allegations of scandal against her and her husband, including the Lewinsky scandal, as part of a conspiracy by Clinton's political enemies. The term has been used since, including in a question posed to Bill Clinton in 2009 to describe verbal attacks on Barack Obama during his early presidency. Hillary Clinton mentioned it again during her 2016 presidential campaign.
Bennie Gordon Thompson is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Mississippi's 2nd congressional district since 1993. A member of the Democratic Party, Thompson served as the chair of the Committee on Homeland Security from 2019 to 2023 and from 2007 to 2011. He was both the first Democrat and the first African American to chair the committee. He is the dean of Mississippi's congressional delegation.
Elmer Greinert "Bud" Shuster is an American politician who represented Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from 1973 to 2001. He is best known for his advocacy of transportation projects, including Interstate 99.
Samuel Jackson Randall was an American politician from Pennsylvania who represented the Queen Village, Society Hill, and Northern Liberties neighborhoods of Philadelphia from 1863 to 1890 and served as the 29th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1876 to 1881. He was a contender for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States in 1880 and 1884.
Deborah Wasserman Schultz is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Florida's 25th congressional district, first elected to Congress in 2004. A member of the Democratic Party, she is a former chair of the Democratic National Committee.
James Daniel Jordan is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Ohio's 4th congressional district since 2007. A member of the Republican Party, Jordan is a former collegiate wrestler and college wrestling coach.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) and nonpartisan U.S. government ethics and accountability watchdog organization. Founded in 2003 as a counterweight to conservative government watchdog groups such as Judicial Watch, CREW works to expose ethics violations and corruption by government officials and institutions and to reduce the role of money in politics.
Eric Himpton Holder Jr. is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African American to hold the position of U.S. attorney general.
Harold Watson "Trey" Gowdy III is an American television news personality, former politician, and former federal prosecutor who served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 4th congressional district from 2011 to 2019. His district included much of the Upstate region of South Carolina, including Greenville and Spartanburg.
John Theodore Chisholm is an American prosecutor and politician who has served as Milwaukee County District Attorney since 2007. A career prosecutor, Chisholm specialized in complex conspiracy prosecutions before his election as district attorney in 2006.
The impeachment process against Richard Nixon began in the United States House of Representatives on October 30, 1973, following the series of high-level resignations and firings widely called the "Saturday Night Massacre" during the course of the Watergate scandal. The House Committee on the Judiciary set up an impeachment inquiry staff and began investigations into possible impeachable offenses by Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States. The process was formally initiated on February 6, 1974, when the House granted the Judiciary Committee authority to investigate whether sufficient grounds existed to impeach Nixon of high crimes and misdemeanors under Article II, Section 4, of the United States Constitution. This investigation was undertaken one year after the United States Senate established the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities to investigate the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex during the 1972 presidential election, and the Republican Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement; during those hearings the scope of the scandal became apparent and the existence of the Nixon White House tapes was revealed.
Mark Harris is an American pastor and politician from North Carolina. He ran as a Republican to represent North Carolina's 9th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives in the 2016 and 2018 elections. In 2016, he was defeated in a Republican primary by incumbent Robert Pittenger. Harris ran for Congress again in 2018, and this time he defeated Pittenger in the Republican primary.
Reactions to the Special Counsel investigation of any Russian government efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election have been widely varied and have evolved over time. An initial period of bipartisan support and praise for the selection of former FBI director Robert Mueller to lead the Special Counsel investigation gave way to some degree of partisan division over the scope of the investigation, the composition of the investigative teams, and its findings and conclusions.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 was a policing reform bill drafted by Democrats in the United States Congress. The legislation was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on February 24, 2021. The legislation aims to combat police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias in policing.
Wendy Rogers is an American far-right Republican Party politician serving as a member of the Arizona State Senate from the 7th legislative district. Elected in November 2020, she assumed office on January 11, 2021. Rogers was an officer in the United States Air Force from 1976 to 1996.
The first impeachment inquiry against Andrew Johnson was launched by a vote of the United States House of Representatives on January 7, 1867 to investigate the potential impeachment of Andrew Johnson, the president of the United States. It was run by the House Committee on the Judiciary.
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