Robert Menendez Convicted Of Gold Bars, Big Surprise!
Whoops this post was ready yesterday.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) was convicted on all counts Tuesday by a federal jury in his trial on a great big load of corruption charges. Menendez was found guilty of taking bribes from three New Jersey business guys, and of acting as an unregistered agent of the Egyptian government, which he used his position as a senator to help out with some arms deals. The AP has the details:
A jury in Manhattan deliberated for parts of three days before finding the Democrat guilty of 16 crimes, including bribery, extortion, honest services fraud, obstruction of justice and conspiracy.
Prosecutor said he abused the power of his office to protect allies from criminal investigations and enrich associates, including his wife, through acts that included meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials and softening his position toward that country as he speeded its access to millions of dollars in U.S. military aid.
We won’t be the least bit surprised if Menendez also faces a civil suit from a bipartisan coalition of New Jersey elected officials for besmirching their reputation by living up to the stereotype of NJ pols being corrupt hacks.
Two codefendants, legitimate businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were also convicted of giving Menendez the bribes; a third briber, Jose Uribe, took a plea deal before trial in exchange for testimony against Menendez and the other two.
The bribes — conveniently still in the Menendezes’ home when the feds came knocking with a warrant last fall so they could be used as evidence — included bundles of cash (more than $480,000 in all) that was stuffed into clothing, boots, and probably beer koozies, as well as actual gold bars, and a Mercedes convertible given to Nadine Arslanian Menendez, the senator’s wife. It is not know whether the cash was also kept in cartoony bags with dollar signs on them. Ms. Menendez was also given a “no-show” job, which could not be seized by federal agents because it didn’t exist, even though she was paid for it.
Prosecutors traced the gold bars and cash to Hana and Daibes, although Menendez’s defense attorneys said the booty all belonged to Ms. Menendez, except they also said the senator had a penchant for keeping a lot of valuables around the house just in case he had to suddenly flee political oppression the way his parents fled Cuba just before Castro came to power. It’s like how my adoptive mom, a teen during the Great Depression, never threw out restaurant ketchup packets because then she wouldn’t have to buy ketchup at the store for a little longer.
The “blame Nadine” strategy didn’t work; her own trial remains on hold as she recovers from surgery for breast cancer, and we of course wish her a successful and speedy recovery.
Menendez is now running for reelection as an independent after it became obvious he’d lose the New Jersey Democratic primary — and did, to Rep. Andy Kim, who now has the party’s full support. He also vows to appeal his conviction, and just in case that works, he is apparently not responding to calls from fellow Democratic senators, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, for him to resign. Outside the courthouse Tuesday, Menendez didn’t answer reporters’ questions about whether he’d step down, but insisted that "I have never violated my public oath," and sure, everyone was impressed by how serious he looked saying it.
The big question now is whether Menendez will have the basic decency to drop his reelection bid, or will stay in the race and risk splitting the Democratic vote enough to create an opening for Republican challenger Curtis Bashaw, about whom we’ll probably learn more but not today because damn, look at the time.
Rep. Kim called on Menendez to resign from the Senate and give up his campaign, saying, “I believe the only course of action for him is to resign his seat immediately. The people of New Jersey deserve better,” an appeal that implies Menendez ever considers his constituents when they don’t have cash on the barrelhead.
If Menendez refuses to resign, the Senate could in theory expel him, which hasn’t happened since the Civil War, when a bunch of Confederate senators were formally shitcanned. It seems unlikely the Senate can come up with the two-thirds majority needed to do that, since Republicans would likely love to keep him around so they can point at the rampant criminality Democrats support. No decent person would want a convicted felon in high office, mercy, the end.
OT. Sick and tired of all these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane.
"‘Staying in race’: Aides stick to message as stunning report suggests Biden about to quit"
Sick and tired of these ankle biters, these Nervous Nellies, these nattering nabobs of negativity (William Safire line handed to Spiro T. Agnew), these sand baggers, these fair weather friends.
Stay in, Joe. Once more into the breach. Again, your bit for God and country. Do not go quietly into that good night. Don't go into the light (it's a train rolling through the tunnel). Stiff upper lip. Give them the what for. When in doubt, attack. Repel all boarders. Raise the Jolly Roger. Raise the mizzen mast. Away the anchor. Sail under a full cloud of sails. Ready cannons for a broadside, and hit 'em on a second pass. Load up the twin 50s. Give no quarter. Balls out on the steam engine. Throw the spare tires overboard. Sharpen the knives. All hands on deck.
If I'm Bob, I'm appealing this to the SC so I can get the gratuity ruling. I fail to see what the difference is between he and Clarence or that mayor they ruled in favor of. Or at least it will be interesting to see how many hoops they jump through to make it illegal for Bob but not for them.