[11] After numerous examples of Prosecutorial Misconduct, by the team led by Jack Smith (lawyer), came to light in a 119-page Inspector General complaint,[12][13] Renzi was pardoned by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2021.

He attended high school in Annandale, Virginia, before moving to Sierra Vista, Arizona, in 1975, where his father, U.S. Army Major General Eugene Carmen Renzi (d. 2008), served at Fort Huachuca.

"[17][21][22] Renzi won a hotly contested Republican primary election against five other candidates; his closest opponents were Lewis Noble Tenney, a former Navajo County supervisor, and conservative radio personality Sydney Ann Hay of Munds Park.

[24] The 2002 Democratic primary, also hotly contested, was narrowly won by George Cordova, a party outsider who ran against several better-known candidates, including Stephen Udall, Diane Prescott and Fred Duval.

)[25][26] Renzi received significant support from the national Republican party in the race: President Bush visited twice, including a fundraiser; Vice President Cheney appeared at a fund-raising luncheon;[27] Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton visited the district to support Renzi;[28] and so did Mel Martinez, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

[30] The Renzi campaign also made heavy use of automated telephone calls throughout the district with various claims and innuendos about Cordova.

The audit found that Renzi's campaign overstated its cash on hand by about $64,000, and that employers or occupations for 200 contributors were not listed, though required by law.

During the summer before the 2006 election, the FEC dropped all charges related to the 2002 alleged use of impermissible corporate funds for his campaign.

American Legion National Commander John Brieden noted that "The 108th Congress passed a record increase in Department of Veterans Affairs health care funding for the current fiscal year, and it reduced the number of service-disabled military retirees subject to a 'disability tax' on their retired pay."

[41] In June 2006, the House accepted an amendment proposed by Renzi to increase tribal law enforcement funding by $5 million and decrease spending for international organizations such as the United Nations by the same amount.

In September 2006, Renzi was named one of the "20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress" in a report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-partisan watchdog group founded in 2005 by former Democratic congressional staffers.

The organization said "His ethics issues stem from the outside income earned by his administrative assistant and from legislation he sponsored that benefitted his father.

In 2003, Renzi sponsored legislation (signed into law in November 2003) that put hundreds of millions of dollars to Eugene's business while, according to environmentalists, devastating the San Pedro River.

The provision exempted Fort Huachuca, in Sierra Vista, Arizona, from maintaining water levels in the San Pedro River as called for in an agreement made in 2002 with the U.S.

On October 25, 2006, just two weeks before Election Day, The New York Times reported that federal authorities had opened an inquiry into the case.

According to the Phoenix New Times, in 2002 Renzi sold off a half-interest in his real estate investment business to a fellow investor, James Sandlin, for $200,000.

[52] On October 24, 2006, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. attorney's office in Arizona has opened an investigation into the land swap deal.

[53] John Wilke in The Wall Street Journal writes,[54] That investigation became a formal public-corruption probe by a federal grand jury in Tucson.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Congress that none of the dismissals were politically motivated, and said the Justice Department is committed to battling corruption.On February 22, 2008, a Federal Grand Jury in Arizona handed up a 35-count indictment charging Renzi with conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering extortion and insurance fraud.

[2] After the land swap controversy was revealed, an unnamed official from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) cautioned the media not to jump to conclusions regarding the inquiry into Renzi, saying it "is not a well-developed investigation, by any means.

In February 2005, Charlton had been on the "retain" list of United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, but "by September of 2006 – after it became clear that Charlton had launched an investigation of Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz, – Sampson included the Arizona prosecutor on another list of U.S. attorneys 'we now should consider pushing out'.

[53] On March 19, 2007, the White House released 3,000 pages of records connected to the controversy, including emails sent by Charlton to the Justice Department about his dismissal.

[57] The Wall Street Journal explained further allegations: that the DOJ under Gonzales had intentionally delayed part of the investigation of Renzi until after the November 2006 election.

They wrote: The delays, which postponed key approvals in the case until after the election, raise new questions about whether Alberto Gonzales or other officials may have weighed political issues in some investigations.

The first publicly known search – a raid of a Renzi family business by the Federal Bureau of Investigation – was[n't] carried out [until April 2007].

[58] On April 24, 2007, Renzi stepped down from the House Financial Services and Natural Resources committees, as more revelations connected him to the U.S. attorneys controversy.

During that afternoon, Paul Charlton, a United States Attorney from Arizona who was inexplicably added to the list of those to be fired, related to House investigators that Brian Murray, Renzi's top aide, called Charlton spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle shortly after news of Renzi's investigation became public, making inquiries related to information on the case.

[62] On February 22, 2008, after Phoenix New Times columnist Sarah Fenske broke a story about the 2002 campaign financing embezzlement, Renzi was indicted on multiple federal charges.

[65] In June 2010, Federal District Judge David C. Bury, ruled that procedural errors precluded the prosecution from using available wire-taps as evidence in the case going forward.

[72] On February 27, 2015, Renzi reported to Federal Correctional Institution, Morgantown West Virginia, to serve his 3-year prison sentence.