One of the really stupid things the Republicans did when they had control of Congress was to agree than in the event a leader was indicted for a crime, that leader would have to give up any leadership role in Congress.
The result was several politically motivated “investigations” were launched to bring charges against Republican leaders where everyone knew no crime had been committed. Other Republicans in fact who wanted to be in charge were more than glad to throw other Republicans under the legal bus to advance their own careers and power.
Six years later, the US. Department of Justice has cleared former House leader Tom Delay of all criminal charges and dropped all of the cases against him.
He still faces charges in Texas, for a breaking a law that didn’t yet exist at the time he was accused of breaking it.
I forget the name of the conservative pundit who dubbed Republicans the “Stupid Party” many years ago, but this is the sort of autopodiatric archery he had in mind. Justice “DeLayed….”