--- title: These U.S. Senators Are the Only Ones to Ever Get Indicted description: From 1808 to 2015, only a dozen U.S. senators have been indicted in office. Here are their stories. canonical: https://time.com/3767693/indicted-senators/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-01T20:05:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:45.432Z article:section: Politics og:title: These U.S. Senators Are the Only Ones to Ever Get Indicted og:description: From 1808 to 2015, only a dozen have been indicted on criminal charges. og:url: https://time.com/3767693/indicted-senators/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7573c9c13a4d2b1f/698782a9cd1bbab0466f594d/robert-menendez.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Robert Menendez og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These U.S. Senators Are the Only Ones to Ever Get Indicted twitter:description: From 1808 to 2015, only a dozen have been indicted on criminal charges. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7573c9c13a4d2b1f/698782a9cd1bbab0466f594d/robert-menendez.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These U.S. Senators Are the Only Ones to Ever Get Indicted > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Apr 1, 2015 8:05 PM UTC  Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 27, 2014. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 27, 2014. J. Scott Applewhite—AP by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Apr 1, 2015 8:05 PM UTC  Robert Menendez Years in Senate: 2006-Present Party: Democrat State: New Jersey After more than a two-year investigation, a federal grand jury indicted Menendez on charges including conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud over his advocacy of business interests of Dr. Salomon Melgen. — Alex Rogers Win McNamee—Getty Images  Ted Stevens Years in Senate: 1968-2009 Party: Republican State: Alaska One of the country's longest-serving Senators was indicted on July 29, 2008 on seven counts of making false statements on disclosure forms for items he received from a company that helped renovate his house. According to the indictment, these items include a new first floor, garage, wraparound deck, plumbing, car exchanges and a Viking gas grill. Stevens was the most prominent figure in the FBI's investigation of public corruption in Alaska and was convicted on all seven counts on October 27, 2008, but a federal judge later overturned the ruling due to prosecutorial misconduct. — Alex Rogers Kris Connor—Getty Images  Kay Bailey Hutchison Years in Senate: 1993-2013 Party: Republican State: Texas After assuming office in 1993, the Texas Senator was indicted on charges of official misconduct due to the misuse of state equipment and employees for her election campaign, as well as tampering with evidence to impede the district attorney's investigation. Hutchison was acquitted of all charges shortly after her trial began, and she still went on to serve in the Senate for twenty years. — James Downie and Baird Kellogg Rick Kern—WireImage/Getty Images  David F. Durenberger Years in Senate: 1978-95 Party: Republican State: Minnesota Like Hutchison, Durenberger was indicted for misuse of public funds; he had requested reimbursement from the Senate for staying at a condominium that he secretly owned. After pleading guilty to five misdemeanors in 1995, prosecutors fined him $1,000 and sentenced him to a year of probation. — James Downie and Baird Kellogg Chris Greenberg—Bloomberg News/Getty Images  Harrison A. Williams Years in Senate: 1959-82 Party: Democrat State: New Jersey The New Jersey Senator took bribes from FBI agents posing as wealthy Arab businessmen in a sting operation and was indicted in 1980\. Williams resigned in 1982 prior to a Senate vote on his expulsion and served 21 months in federal prison on bribery and conspiracy charges. — James Downie and Baird Kellogg James Atherton—Bettmann/Corbis  Edward J. Gurney Years in Senate: 1969-74 Party: Republican State: Florida A strong Nixon supporter, Gurney served on the Senate committee that investigated the Watergate scandal but was later indicted in 1974 for lying to a grand jury and for bribery in a case involving influence-peddling. He chose not to run for re-election in '74, though he was eventually acquitted of all charges. — James Downie and Baird Kellogg AP  Burton K. Wheeler Years in Senate: 1923-47 Party: Democrat State: Montana The lawyer-turned-politician was indicted only a year after first taking office for accepting a fee to represent a client before the Department of the Interior (a conflict of interest with his legislative duties). Both the Senate and the courts later acquitted him. — James Downie and Baird Kellogg Bill Wunsch—Post Archive  Truman Newberry Years in Senate: 1919-22 Party: Republican State: Michigan Prosecutors indicted the wealthy industrialist for violating the Federal Corrupt Practices Act (he spent $3,750 to secure his election to the Senate over carmaker Henry Ford). Although the Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1921, he left Congress a year later in the face of second movement to unseat him. — James Downie and Baird Kellogg Bettmann/Corbis  Joseph R. Burton Years in Senate: 1901-06 Party: Republican State: Kansas The first-term Senator was indicted in 1904 for accepting $2,500 to prevent a fraud order against the Rialto Grain and Securities Company. He appealed his six-month prison sentence and fine, but the new trial resulted in the same verdict, and he resigned his seat in 1906\. — James Downie and Baird Kellogg  Charles Dietrich Years in Senate: 1901-05 Party: Republican State: Nebraska Appointed to fill a vacancy, Dietrich was charged in 1903 with taking a bribe in exchange for the procurement of a postmaster's position, as well as entering into a government contract while serving in the Senate. He was acquitted less than two weeks later, found innocent by the Senate, and finished his term without seeking re-election. — James Downie and Baird Kellogg  John H. Mitchell Terms: 1873-79, 1885-97, 1901-05 Party: Republican State: Oregon A grand jury charged Mitchell in 1905 for using political influence to help clients obtain fraudulent land claims, as part of the Oregon Land Fraud Scandal. Sentenced to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine, he died while appealing the sentence. — James Downie and Baird Kellogg  John Smith Years in Senate: 1803-08 Party: Republican State: Ohio One of Ohio's first two Senators, he was approached by Aaron Burr to help with a military expedition against Spanish Florida. Smith agreed to provide supplies but withdrew his support when he learned that Burr's intentions were to take over parts of Mexico and the western United States. Nevertheless, he was still indicted in Virginia as a conspirator. The charges were dropped after Burr was acquitted on a technicality, but his implication in the Burr treason ruined his political career, and he resigned in 1808\. — James Downie and Baird Kellogg ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3767693/indicted-senators/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3767693/indicted-senators/"},"headline":"These U.S. Senators Are the Only Ones to Ever Get Indicted","datePublished":"2015-04-01T20:05:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:45.432Z","description":"Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey became the 12th Senator in the nation's history to be indicted on criminal charges. 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