Trump Indictment: The History of Presidential Run-Ins with the Law

By: Hasan Belgaumi

No one is above the law. Even with as much power as they hold, former presidents and presidents are no exception.

Currently, the world’s media attention is on former President Donald Trump, who is facing 34 felony charges for falsifying business records in the state of New York.

In 2006, a year after Trump married his current wife, Melania Trump, he and adult-film star Stormy Daniels had an affair. After the businessman announced his plans to run for president in 2016, Daniels was paid $130,000 by Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, as a form of ‘hush money’ to keep quiet about their relationship. Trump then reimbursed Cohen for those payments, which were documented as legal services but were, in fact, not. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor, but what makes it a felony is that the payments were made to conceal information that would damage Trump’s 2016 election prospects. Since the money was not declared for his presidential campaign, it violates federal campaign finance law. He has since pleaded not guilty in court.

While Trump may be the first former president to be arrested, he isn’t the first president to be arrested. That title goes to Ulysses S. Grant, President from 1869 to 1877. Grant was known to be a speedster on his horse and was stopped by Washington police several times. However, in 1872, he was stopped by police officer Willian H. West for spitting on M Street in the capital. West, who had warned the president the day before, arrested Grant and took him into custody. In the end, he paid a $20 fine, worth around $400 today, and ended up walking back to the White House.

Union Army leader and the Civil War veteran, Grant was elected the 18th President of the United States.

Grant may have been the only president to be arrested, but that doesn’t mean other presidents haven’t faced legal complications before. Arguably the most high-profile presidential misconduct of all time, the Watergate scandal under President Nixon carries on its infamous legacy even fifty years on. On June 17th, 1972, five men broke into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in the Watergate complex. The men were found to be in connection with the president, with the aim of obtaining sensitive information for Nixon’s reelection campaign. It was soon found that they had been conducting other illegal activities such as bribery, obstruction of justice, and wiretapping. The investigation lasted two years, full of doubt and growing mistrust for the president and government in general. In the end, in August 1974, Nixon resigned before the Senate could impeach him, becoming the first and only president in history to do so. Five burglars and two of Nixon’s campaign aides were jailed, with many more government officials indicted, charged, or jailed. After all was said and done, Gerald Ford, Nixon’s vice president, who assumed the role after his resignation, pardoned his predecessor, shielding Nixon from any possible charges.

Nixon served as President from 1969 until his resignation in 1974.

Pictured above is the Watergate Hotel, site of the Watergate Scandal.

Nixon served as president during the investigation of his scandal, but the true extent of other presidents' scandals weren't realized until after their terms had ended. Warren G. Harding served as president from 1920 to 1923. During his short term, Harding was entangled in what became known as the Teapot Dome scandal. In 1921, Harding transferred supervision of naval oil-reserve lands from the Navy to the Department of the Interior. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall secretly granted Mammoth Oil Company exclusive drilling rights in Wyoming’s Teapot Dome Reserve. Fall also granted Pan American Petroleum Company drilling rights at a reserve in California behind the scenes. Fall had been taking bribes from the two companies, and when it came to light, Congress demanded Harding cancel the leases, and the Supreme Court declared his transfer of ownership to Fall to be illegal. The president died in office soon after, in 1923, due to a heart attack. However, in 1929, Fall was found guilty of accepting a bribe in office and imprisoned. While the two companies faced legal implications, only the founder of the Mammoth Oil Company, Harry Sinclar, was imprisoned.

Harding served as President from 1921 until his death at 57 in 1923.

A political cartoon created to address the Teapot Dome Scandal.

The news of former President Trump's indictment and trial is certainly groundbreaking; however, it isn’t the first time a president has faced a scandal, legal complications, or even arrest. But what can be said is that when the head of a country, or former head, is entangled in legal complications, it truly tests the principle of no one being above the law.

Works Cited

Chasan, Aliza. “Trump Has Been Charged, but Ulysses S. Grant Was the First President to Be Arrested.” CBS News, 4 Apr. 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-charged-ulysses-grant-first-president-arrested-speeding/. Accessed 5 Apr. 2023.

Coe, Alexis. “Is Donald Trump the First President to Have a Run-In With the Law?” Town & Country, 9 Aug. 2022, https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a40850973/president-trump-fbi-search-warrant-mar-a-lago-history/. Accessed 5 Apr. 2023.

Elving, Ron. “Past Presidents, While Never Indicted, Have Faced Legal Woes of Their Own.” NPR, 3 Apr. 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/04/03/1167662256/past-presidents-while-never-indicted-have-faced-legal-woes-of-their-own. Accessed 5 Apr. 2023.

Farrell, Greg, and David Voreacos. “What Trump’s 34 Felony Charges Are All About.” Bloomberg, 4 Apr. 2023, http://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-04/trump-indicted-the-34-felony-charges-explained-and-key-dates#xj4y7vzkg. Accessed 5 Apr. 2023.

Hancock, Laura. “6 U.S. Presidents before Donald Trump Who Faced Legal Trouble.” Cleveland, 25 Aug. 2018, https://www.cleveland.com/news/erry-2018/08/d93bb8ebe61794/6-us-presidents-before-donald.html. Accessed 5 Apr. 2023.

Perlstein, Rick. “Watergate Scandal.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Jan. 2000, https://www.britannica.com/event/Watergate-Scandal. Accessed 5 Apr. 2023.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Teapot Dome Scandal.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 4 May 1999, https://www.britannica.com/event/Teapot-Dome-Scandal. Accessed 5 Apr. 2023.

Zurcher, By Anthony. “Analysis: What the 34 Felony Charges against Donald Trump Reveal.” BBC News, 4 Apr. 2023, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65181178. Accessed 5 Apr. 2023.