April Fool’s Day marked out Senator Bob Menendez (D, NJ) for one of its own when he was indicted on corruption charges April 1, 2015.
From the Salon report:
The AP reports that Menendez will face charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud. His case stems from alleged favors Menendez performed for Dr. Salomon Melgen, a close personal friend and a top contributor. Menendez intervened on Melgen’s behalf in a Medicare overbilling dispute, and the senator has admitted to flying on Melgen’s private plane for trips to the Dominican Republic. The 22-year congressional veteran initially failed to disclose the travel, although he later reimbursed Melgen $58,500 for the flights — two years after the trips.
At the end of an investigation that has spanned some three years, Menedez has finally been charged with using his political power and influence to benefit his long-time friend, a wealthy Florida eye doctor, in exchange for luxury vacations, airline travel, golf trips and tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to a legal defense fund and election campaigns. The 68-page document lists nearly $1 million in gifts including a Paris hotel stay and access to a Dominican resort which prosecutors say were never reported on financial disclosure forms. Menedez is expected to appear in federal court in Newark today, April 2, to respond to the charges.
The Senate began its early Spring/Easter break this week so Sen Menendez was home in New Jersey when the news broke. In a hastily-gathered media conference, Menendez defiantly declared, “I’m not going anywhere”. Brinker observed that it resembled a political rally rather than a presser, with Menendez playing to a cheerful and cheering crowd.
“I’m outraged that prosecutors at the Justice Department were tricked into starting this investigating three years ago with false allegations by those who have a political motive to silence me. But I will not be silenced. I am confident, at the end of the day, I will be vindicated and they will be exposed,” Menendez told reporters and his enthusiastic supporters, adding: “This is not how my career is going to end.”
As I recall, Michael Grimm said much the same thing after his indictment. But the betting is that Menendez will hang around rather longer than the Grimm schemer. Menendez’s indictment is unlikely to create a Senate vacancy in the immediate term. Menendez has vowed to stay in office during what promises to be a long court process though he has voluntarily
stepped down as ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
But Brinker noted in an earlier article that “it could nevertheless have significant political repercussions in the weeks to come” and indeed it could. Brinker expressed the view that “it’s possible that an embittered Menendez will now engage in some actual political payback of his own” by abstaining from the vote on Loretta Lynch’s nomination. The vote will be perilously close and a Menendez abstention could be the one missing vote that sinks Lynch’s chances.
Meantime, not to be outdone, declared presidential candidate Ted Cruz has led a group of conservatives who have donned their tinfoil headgear to promote the conspiracy theory that Menendez’s indictment is part of a political vendetta by the Obama administration because the Democratic senator has opposed the diplomatic rapprochement with Cuba and the Iranian negotiations. If this was so then the Obama administration showed extraordinary prescience in launching the Menendez-Melgen investigation back in 2012, three years prior to current actions regarding Iran and Cuba.
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