--- title: Trump and the History of Presidents Facing Criminal Charges description: Trump has made history once again—this time as the first former U.S. president ever to be criminally indicted. But Nixon and Clinton came close. canonical: https://time.com/6264880/president-arrested-indicted-history-trump/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-03-21T21:16:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-11T20:36:57.000Z article:section: History og:title: Trump and the History of Presidents Facing Criminal Charges og:description: Trump has made history once again—this time as the first former U.S. president ever to be criminally indicted. But Nixon and Clinton came close. og:url: https://time.com/6264880/president-arrested-indicted-history-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteefbfd43f1466e46/698a3b4c096a94172c6ad988/president-donald-trump-indicted.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Key Speakers At Conservative Political Action Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump and the History of Presidents Facing Criminal Charges twitter:description: Trump has made history once again—this time as the first former U.S. president ever to be criminally indicted. But Nixon and Clinton came close. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteefbfd43f1466e46/698a3b4c096a94172c6ad988/president-donald-trump-indicted.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Is the First President Ever Criminally Charged. Others Have Come Close Though > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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Its journalism is reported and edited by a professional newsroom led by Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, with named correspondents on politics, climate, health, technology and culture. It reaches 1 million US print subscribers and 1.15 million globally, plus more than 1.1 million newsletter readers. #### How do I subscribe to TIME magazine? Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. Choose digital only at $20 a year, or print and digital from $29 a year or $49 for two years. TIME also publishes seven free email newsletters at time.com/newsletters, which do not require a subscription. #### Can I cancel a TIME subscription? Yes. TIME states that subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. #### Does TIME have free newsletters? Yes. TIME publishes seven free email newsletters reaching more than 1.1 million readers, covering daily news, Washington politics, health, AI, climate and energy, culture, and the newsroom itself. They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=f81d6d8c-100d-4421-b6d2-a02e5eb0bfaa&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=f81d6d8c-100d-4421-b6d2-a02e5eb0bfaa&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Stories Behind Donald Trump's TIME Covers [Watch (HLS stream): The Stories Behind Donald Trump's TIME Covers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/W8uZ13Pz.m3u8) (5:07)  _Published 2021-01-21. TIME's D.W. Pine looks back at the various covers featuring Donald Trump, from his first appearance in 1989 to the end of his presidency._  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Updated: Dec 11, 2023 8:36 PM UTCPublished: Mar 21, 2023 9:16 PM UTC TIME's D.W. Pine looks back at the various covers featuring Donald Trump, from his first appearance in 1989 to the end of his presidency.  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Updated: Dec 11, 2023 8:36 PM UTCPublished: Mar 21, 2023 9:16 PM UTC [Donald Trump](https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump-choice/) will make history once [again](https://time.com/4563685/donald-trump-wins/)—this time as the first former U.S. president ever to be criminally [indicted.](https://time.com/6264352/donald-trump-arrest-what-happen/) A Manhattan grand jury voted to indict the 45th President in a [case](https://time.com/6264605/trump-critics-stormy-daniels-case-weak/) involving his alleged hush-money payment to former porn star [Stormy Daniels](https://time.com/6264703/trump-stormy-daniels-statements/), according to his lawyers and media reports. Daniels says she and Trump had an affair; Trump denies this. “Like all things with Trump, it’s unprecedented,” says Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia. President Ulysses S. Grant was technically the first President to be [arrested](https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/03/21/president-arrested-ulysses-grant-speeding/)—for speeding on a horse and buggy in 1872\. But the Trump case will go down in history as one of the biggest political scandals in American history—even if the charges relate to the seemingly mundane offense of bookkeeping fraud. Criminal history, as it pertains to U.S. presidents, is pretty brief. In terms of the seriousness of the scandal, Perry argues the Watergate scandal is the closest parallel because it was the first time a President resigned. President Richard Nixon stepped down in 1974 after tapes revealed he participated in the cover-up of the 1972 break-in at a Democratic National Committee office in the Watergate complex. Several Nixon advisors, from the White House lawyer to the Attorney General, served prison time. While the Department of Justice initially argued that a sitting president couldn’t be indicted on a criminal charge, Nixon was not assured that protection post-presidency, so his successor Gerald Ford pardoned him. As Ford put it, “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.” But a [Sept. 1974 Gallup poll](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/washington/29pardon.html) reported 53% of Americans thought the pardon was the wrong thing to do, and it’s one of the reasons Ford was voted out of office in the next election.  Newspaper headlines being read by tourists in front of the White House on Aug. 8, 1974. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images **Read more:** [What Was the Biggest Political Scandal in American History? 7 Historians Make Their Picks](https://time.com/5569221/biggest-american-political-scandals/) Arrests of [major federal officials](https://time.com/5481626/trump-interior-secretary-ryan-zinke-resigns-history-cabinet-scandals/) have an even longer history. Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall was convicted of bribery in 1929 for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in Liberty Bonds after allowing a private company to lease oil reserves in Wyoming known as Teapot Dome. Back then, TIME [called](https://time.com/vault/issue/1929-11-04/page/17/) Fall “the first felon in a President’s cabinet in U.S. history.” As biographer [Robert Dallek](https://time.com/5838844/trump-great-depression-presidents/) explained the significance of the scandal, “People in the government were selling the administration to the highest bidder, using their government power to exploit bad positions to make a lot of money.” Fall served under President Warren G. Harding from 1921-1923, and Harding came to be viewed as corrupt. Increased press scrutiny revealed that he had a mistress. The stress of the scandal is thought to have led to his fatal heart attack in August 1923\. Bill Clinton was the last President who was close to facing criminal charges. [Paula Jones](https://time.com/4524362/donald-trump-bill-clinton-accusers-debate/), a receptionist, claimed she suffered emotional damage after Clinton exposed himself to her in a hotel room in May of 1991, back when he was the Governor of Arkansas, and sued for sexual harassment. In _Clinton v. Jones_, “the Supreme Court sets a precedent that a president can be sued for actions allegedly taken before he becomes president—that in turn led to an impeachment,” says Perry. President Clinton did have to pay civil damages to Paula Jones, and the suit brought to light the other womanizing he had engaged in, including a roughly two-year relationship with former White House intern [Monica Lewinsky](https://time.com/5120561/bill-clinton-monica-lewinsky-timeline/). However, while he was impeached in Dec. 1998 and acquitted in Feb. 1999, the scandal didn’t impact his popularity. His approval ratings kept going up.  President Bill Clinton reacts to being impeached by the House of Representatives outside of the oval office in the White House Rose Garden, on Dec. 19, 1998. David Hume Kennerly—Getty Images There are similar worries that charging Trump could further [boost](https://time.com/6264019/trump-indictment-charges-campaign-donations/) his popularity with his sympathetic base. Yet Clinton wasn’t trying to run for re-election; the impeachment happened in his second term. Trump, however, is trying to stage a comeback after losing the 2020 election. With GOP rivals already making hay of the scandal—Florida Governor [Ron DeSantis quipped](https://time.com/6264518/ron-desantis-trump-indictment-comment/), “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star”—it remains to be seen whether criminal charges would help or hinder his 2024 bid. ## Transcript [00:00] I happened been on their cover like 14 or 15 times. [00:02] I think we have the all time record in the history of Time magazine. [00:06] Donald Trump has always had a fascination with time. [00:09] He first landed on the cover on January 16th, [00:12] 1989, 28 years before his inauguration, since before his election. [00:18] Trump has regularly campaigned to be named Time's Person of the Year [00:22] using rallies and his Twitter feed to comment on Time's choices. [00:26] They should have picked me for the Person of the Year, but they didn't know. [00:29] They said. [00:30] And perhaps most notably, fake time [00:32] travelers were designed to hang in his golf course clubhouses. [00:36] Time has a long history of featuring presidents on the cover, [00:39] and Trump has been no exception. [00:42] Eight of the top ten people to appear most often on Time's cover are U.S. [00:46] presidents. [00:48] Trump finished his term with 35 covers, the fourth [00:52] most of any president behind Richard Nixon's 55 covers. [00:56] Ronald Reagan with 46 and Bill Clinton with 40. [01:00] Rounding out the top ten are George W Bush with 32. [01:04] Barack Obama 31. [01:06] Jimmy Carter 27. [01:08] Jesus 22. [01:10] And Hillary Clinton and George H.W. [01:12] Bush tied at 21. [01:15] We first introduced candidate Trump [01:17] to Time's readers in August of 2015, [01:21] when photographer Martin Schaller and Time editor at large Paul Moakley [01:25] brought a live bald eagle to the Trump Tower in New York City for a portrait. [01:30] This symbol of democracy was particularly animated during the photo [01:34] and video session, even angrily nipping at the president's hand [01:42] during the 2016 campaign. [01:45] We produced seven covers featuring Trump and created an original visual language [01:49] for this president with the artwork of artist Adele Rodriguez. [01:53] Rodriguez, who worked as Time's international art director in the 1990s [01:57] as a strong, simple, graphic style that immediately grabbed worldwide [02:01] recognition with the meltdown cover, a reflection [02:05] of his slumping campaign following the Republican National Convention. [02:09] Two months later, in response to the release of the infamous Access [02:13] Hollywood tape, [02:14] Rodriguez followed with an updated image with the headline Total Meltdown. [02:21] Of course, TIME reports many different topics, [02:23] and the visual approaches on the cover reinforces that variety. [02:27] We have presented President Trump [02:29] as a frenetic Twitter user, crumbling at the Washington Monument, [02:32] a punching bag, a graphic wrecking ball, [02:36] an angry character with his hair on fire, [02:39] a cross between himself and Vladimir Putin, a king looking into a cover, [02:44] a slingshot holding fighter, dueling with Nancy Pelosi, [02:48] a happy president, whistling under an umbrella in the rain, [02:52] and a man who has painted himself into a corner. [02:56] We've also photographed Trump for multiple covers, [02:59] including a White House tour for our May 22nd, 2017 cover and an Oval Office [03:04] conversation in the summer of 2019 on [03:08] Trump's plan to keep the White House. [03:11] My favorite time cover of Trump [03:13] is nothing to See Here from February 27, 2017. [03:17] I believe the strongest time covers leave space [03:20] for a variety of perspectives for this cover. [03:23] If you're an opponent of President Trump, you look at the cover [03:27] and you see all the chaos that this man has created. [03:30] And if you're a supporter of the president, [03:33] you look at it and say, even among all the chaos in Washington, [03:37] look how resolute he is sitting behind that desk. [03:40] That is a great place for a time cover to be. [03:44] That image was [03:44] created by longtime Time collaborator Tim O'Brien, [03:48] who has painted more covers in the past 30 years than any other artist. [03:53] It was the first of what would become a series of four paintings from O'Brien [03:57] depicting Trump in a growing storm within the Oval Office. [04:03] Our Trump covers have certainly not been without debate. [04:06] An image we created of Trump staring down at a young immigrant girl [04:10] for our Welcome to America cover sparked controversy. [04:14] During the campaign, Trump frequently used the cover, proclaiming [04:18] how Trump won as a selling point on the campaign trail. [04:22] On numerous occasions, the president also tweeted out [04:25] a fake time cover animation of how Trumpism outlasts Trump. [04:29] A cover from October 22nd, 2018. [04:34] But for most of the past year, the president's image on [04:36] the cover took a backseat to front line workers. [04:39] Racial injustice, protests and the rising COVID numbers. [04:44] And even though the image of Trump wasn't physically [04:46] shown on two recent covers, his influence was still present. [04:53] While Trump's presidency has [04:54] come to a close, it's certainly possible that we haven't seen the last of him. 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