ABC News Politics - Look back at D.C. shenanigans, prostitution rings, affairs, leaks and more. Neither party is immune to scandal.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., admits on June 16, 2009, in Las Vegas to having an extramarital affair with a woman on his campaign staff. A rising star in the Republican Party who was considered a potential 2012 presidential contender, Ensign called his action “absolutely the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life.” He had an affair with Cindy Hampton, his campaign treasurer and the wife of his best friend, Doug Hampton. In a tell-all interview with “Nightline,” Doug Hampton provided details about the affair and its repercussions, including the end of a close 20-year friendship between the two families and the loss of the Hamptons’ jobs. (Sam Morris/Las Vegas Sun/Reuters)
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford fields questions from the media following a special meeting with his Cabinet in Columbia, S.C., Jun. 26, 2009. The Cabinet meeting was the governor’s first planned appearance after he announced his extramarital affair with a woman from Argentina. The two-term embattled governor continued to face fire for his actions. At issue was whether Sanford’s behavior consisted of “serious crimes or serious misconduct in office,” the standard for impeachment according to the state constitution. If impeached and removed from office, Sanford would be the first South Carolina governor to face such a fate, and only the ninth governor in U.S. history. The most recent was Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was removed earlier in 2009. (Davis Turner/Getty Images)
Rod Blagojevich, at the time the governor of Illinois, waves to the media after addressing questions about charges brought against him of conspiracy and bribery, including the allegation that he was seeking to benefit financially from his appointment of a successor to Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate. After choosing Roland Burris to the position, Blagojevich was removed from office in January 2009, and later indicted on corruption charges. (Jeff Haynes/Reuters)
John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator and 2008 presidential contender, admits to ABC News’ Bob Woodruff, Aug. 8, 2008, that he lied repeatedly about having an affair with a 42-year-old campaign employee, Rielle Hunter. Edwards denied being involved in paying the woman hush money or fathering her newborn child. Edwards said he told his family about the affair after it ended in 2006, and that his wife Elizabeth, who had incurable breast cancer, was “furious,” but that their marriage would survive. (ABC News/AP Photo)
With his wife at his side, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer delivers an apology to his family and the public following reported links to a prostitution ring, March 10, 2008, in New York City. Just 48 hours after he was linked to the investigation into a prostitution business known as the Emperor’s Club, Spitzer resigned from office effective March 17, 2008. “The remorse I feel will always be with me,” he said. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, better known as the D.C. Madam, was found guilty April 15, 2008, on four felony charges stemming from her Washington-area prostitution business. The madam maintained that she ran a “sexual fantasy services” outcall escort firm that prohibited illegal activity. She said she was unaware of sex between her clients and the women who worked for her. Palfrey was scheduled for sentencing July 24, 2008, but one month after she was convicted, the madam was found dead in an apparent suicide in her mother’s Florida mobile home. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Facing mounting pressure and a Senate ethics investigation launched by his own political party after an embarrassing arrest, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, resigns from Congress. The Idaho Republican came under fire Aug. 27, 2007, as details of his lewd conduct arrest in a Minnesota airport restroom — and his subsequent guilty plea to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct — were made public in a Capitol Hill newspaper report. Despite the guilty plea, Craig continued to suggest his innocence as he announced his resignation. “It is with sadness and deep regret that I announce it is my intent to resign,” said Craig, flanked by his family, Idaho’s governor and other officials. “I apologize to the people of my great state for being unable to serve a full term to which I have been elected.” (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The political career of Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., crumbled in 2006, following the revelation of his sexually explicit e-mails with underage congressional pages. When the page scandal broke, Foley was the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. The Florida Republican resigned Sept. 29, 2006, hours after ABC News questioned him about the sexually explicit messages. Officials in Florida later announced that Foley would not face criminal charges because of “insufficient evidence.” The embattled congressman was back in the spotlight in September 2009, debuting a local radio show entitled “Inside the Mind of Mark Foley.” (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Jack Abramoff leaves Federal Court in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2006. The once-powerful K-Street lobbyist pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud, agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors investigating influence peddling that threatened powerful members of the U.S. Congress. Many Republicans, including then White House political adviser Karl Rove, attributed the Republican congressional midterm defeat to the Abramoff and Mark Foley scandals. At decades end, Abramoff was serving out his sentence at a minimum-security prison in Cumberland, Md. (Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)
Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, came under fire in 2003 in connection with the investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. Libby was convicted March 6, 2007, on four of five charges brought against him, including lying and obstructing a case that reached into the highest levels of President George Bush’s administration. As the nearly four-year investigation into how Plame’s name was leaked to reporters came to a close, top White House strategist Karl Rove evaded charges but remained under investigation. In a June 2009 interview with ABC News, Cheney said, “Scooter Libby is an innocent man who was the victim of a severe miscarriage of justice.” While Bush ultimately commuted Libby’s sentence, he did not pardon him. (Jason Reed/Reuters)
