{"id":2243236,"date":"2024-05-13T06:38:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T10:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-history-of-congress-members-whove-been-indicted-doesnt-paint-a-pretty-picture-for-menendez-and-cuellar\/"},"modified":"2024-05-13T06:41:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T10:41:03","slug":"the-history-of-congress-members-whove-been-indicted-doesnt-paint-a-pretty-picture-for-menendez-and-cuellar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-history-of-congress-members-whove-been-indicted-doesnt-paint-a-pretty-picture-for-menendez-and-cuellar\/","title":{"rendered":"The indicted Congress members&#8217; history doesn&#8217;t bode well for Menendez and Cuellar"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-history-of-congress-members-whove-been-indicted-doesnt-paint-a-pretty-picture-for-menendez-and-cuellar%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2243236&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The 118th Congress witnessed \u200dmultiple indictments \u200bof members for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dhs-secretary-alejandro-mayorkas-admits-failure-to-check-afghan-migrants\/\" title=\"DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Admits Failure to Check Afghan Migrants\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ark-man-confesses-to-breaching-capitol\/\" title=\"Ark. man confesses to breaching Capitol\">alleged crimes<\/a> committed<\/a> before and\u2064 during their terms. Two representatives and a senator face\u2062 uncertainty\u2063 over their indictments. Past cases show indicted members often leave office through resignation or loss in elections, like ex-Reps.\u2064 Fattah and Brown. Lessons from Republicans Collins and \u2062Hunter&#8217;s convictions \u2064emphasize ethical standards\u2063 in Congress.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The 118th <a href=\"https:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/congress\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Congress\">Congress<\/a> has featured several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/2990400\/members-congress-indicted-cuellar-joins-officials-charged\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Congress\">criminal indictments<\/a> of sitting members for alleged crimes committed before and while serving in office, but for two of the indicted members, their fates have yet to be seen.<\/p>\n<p>Two representatives and one senator have been indicted, with one of the indicted congressmen, former Republican Rep. George Santos, being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2432380\/george-santos-expelled-from-house-of-representatives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"expelled\">expelled<\/a> last year. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) are still in Congress as they face uncertainty with their indictments and political futures.<\/p>\n<p>In recent Congresses, there have been several indictments of members, with nearly all leading to the person facing the charges leaving the chamber \u2014 by resignation or losing reelection.<\/p>\n<p>Former Democratic Reps. Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania and Corrine Brown of Florida both lost reelection efforts after their respective indictments.<\/p>\n<p>Fattah had represented Pennsylvania\u2019s 2nd Congressional District before being indicted along with four other associates in 2015 on racketeering and bribery charges, among other alleged crimes. Despite being indicted, he ran for reelection in 2016 but faced challengers in the April Democratic primary. He was defeated by then-state Rep. Dwight Evans, who went on to win the seat in November. The disgraced congressman was convicted in June and resigned shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n<p>Brown represented Florida\u2019s 5th Congressional District before being indicted on fraud charges in July 2016. She lost her primary in a reconfigured district a month later to former state Sen. Al Lawson, who won the district that November. She finished out her term through January 2017 and was convicted later that year.<\/p>\n<p>A trio of Republican representatives who were indicted while serving in Congress faced similar fates, resigning only after being convicted \u2014 though two made it through a reelection campaign first.<\/p>\n<p>Former Rep. Chris Collins represented New York\u2019s 27th Congressional District and was indicted on charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sidney-powell-is-an-american-legal-giant\/\" title=\"Sidney Powell Is an American Legal Giant\">making false statements<\/a> to the FBI in August 2018. He narrowly won his reelection campaign that November, but resigned in September 2019 after pleading guilty to insider trading. Collins was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Former Rep. Duncan Hunter represented California\u2019s 50th Congressional District and was indicted on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-mayor-who-triggered-entire-command-force-to-quit-sued-by-chief-she-fired\/\" title=\"Democrat Mayor Who Triggered Entire Command Force To Quit Sued By Chief She Fired\u00a0\">campaign finance charges<\/a> in August 2018. He was reelected later that year but pleaded guilty to stealing campaign funds in December 2019. He resigned from Congress in January 2020 and was also pardoned by Trump later that year.<\/p>\n<p>Former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry represented Nebraska\u2019s 1st Congressional District and was indicted on three charges in October 2021. He was convicted on one of the charges in March 2022 and resigned from Congress later that month.<\/p>\n<p>The most successful indicted member of Congress in recent history has been Menendez, who was indicted on corruption charges in 2015. His trial ended in a mistrial, and the Justice Department opted to drop the charges in 2018. He easily won reelection in 2018, despite the 2015 charges, and has resisted calls to step down despite being indicted again last year.<\/p>\n<p>Typically a member of Congress will only resign or be expelled after having been convicted of a crime, rather than just indicted. The last member of Congress to be expelled after being found guilty of a crime was Democratic Ohio Rep. James Traficant, who was expelled in 2002 after being convicted on various charges.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2023, a new precedent was set when Santos was expelled from the chamber despite not being convicted of a crime. He has been indicted but the case has yet to go to trial.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Party leaders in the House and Senate do not seem keen on expelling either Cuellar or Menendez, but should an indictment turn into a conviction, the pressure will likely heat up.<\/p>\n<p>The Texas Democrat has said he will run for reelection to the House, while Menendez has ruled out a run for the Democratic nomination for his Senate seat but left the door open to run as an independent in November.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the 118th Congress, multiple members face criminal charges for actions pre-and post-office. Among them, two await outcomes. A senator and two representatives are indicted, including ex-Rep. George Santos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2638,"featured_media":2243237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP23259073899305-2-1-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2243236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP23259073899305-2-1-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2243236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2243236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2243236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2243237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2243236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2243236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2243236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}