system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Is accepting a bribe legal if it doesn't affect your behavior?

Let's say that you're a politician, and you were approached by a businessman, who payed you $10,000 to vote yes on a bill. If you accepted the money, but voted no on the bill anyway, have you done anything illegal, since the bribe didn't actually affect how you voted on the bill?
gpt
If you're a public official in the US?  No.

It's really hard to prove or disprove "I was going to do that anyways" in court.  Anti-bribery laws flat out restrict any & all gifts of any significant size **and** require you to report them.  This way, there's zero confusion or argument to be had.

As a general rule, if you think you've found a simple & obvious loophole to a law, somebody else has tried it & the law has been modified to make that illegal.