#Sen. Robert Menendez

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

It’s gotten buried a bit underneath news about the negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza, the related protests on U.S. college campuses, and the ongoing trial of a former president for allegedly covering up payments to a pornography actress, but high-profile Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar was indicted on Friday by the Department of Justice in Houston. He says he is not guilty of the charges and will stand for reelection as planned this fall.

Cuellar, a relatively conservative Democrat who represents a district that stretches along the U.S.–Mexico border around Laredo and pokes up to San Antonio, is charged with 14 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, and so forth related to allegations that he was paid under the table to influence U.S. policy on behalf of Azerbaijan’s national oil company, SOCAR, and the Mexican bank Banco Azteca. (Neither Banco Azteca nor SOCAR, nor any of their employees, have been charged with a crime.)

A longtime incumbent, Cuellar won his general-election race in 2022 by a wide margin. But his district, the 28th, has a significant population of Hispanic and/or Latino voters and has become more Republican in recent years as those groups have trended rightward. The Cook Political Report rates it as having a Democratic “lean” of 3 points—which, roughly speaking, means a generic Democrat would be expected to beat a generic Republican in the district by only a 3-point margin. That’s close enough to mean that Cuellar’s indictment and potential conviction could threaten Dems’ efforts to retake the House of Representatives, which Republicans currently hold by a tenuous four votes.

The case is similar to that of Democratic New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, another longtime incumbent who was indicted last September for allegedly accepting bribes from three men in New Jersey who were seeking to influence U.S. policy toward Egypt, among other things. Menendez’s trial is set to begin next week, and he says that if he is not convicted he still might run for reelection in November as an independent. While he’d be very unlikely to win such a race, he could potentially siphon enough votes away from the Democrats’ presumptive nominee, current Rep. Andy Kim, to throw the seat to Republicans.

So, both of these members of Congress are in high-stakes races that they are refusing to drop out of despite facing corruption indictments. But there’s another major similarity between the two stories as well: Wives!

Menendez’s wife Nadine was also charged in his case, and the allegations against the couple include claims that the men accused of seeking favors from the senator bought Nadine Menendez a Mercedes convertible and paid her to hold a fake no-show “job” at a halal-certification business. Cuellar’s wife Imelda was also indicted; she’s accused of receiving the alleged bribe payments from SOCAR and Banco Azteca through shell companies she owned that were ostensibly providing the firms with “consulting” services. The government alleges that, actually, Imelda Cuellar did “little to no legitimate work” in return for the hundreds of thousands of dollars she was paid.

A statement issued by Cuellar says his wife is innocent. Nadine Menendez has pleaded not guilty, although in a disclosure that may have caused some awkwardness around the proverbial Englewood Cliffs dinner table, Robert Mendendez’s attorneys told a judge in January that his potential testimony at trial might implicate her. Since then, however, the pair’s cases have been separated from each other in a way that will preclude anything he says from being used against his spouse.

Does the Democratic Party have an (alleged) Bribery Wife Guy problem? Are liberals soft on wife crime? This fall, the voters will have their say.

[collapsedsquid]

Prosecutors have the gold bars Menendez supposedly received as a corrupt payment, a cooperating witness, and text messages that, they say, showed the senator promising to take votes and other official actions in exchange for bribes. But the prosecution is being complicated by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause—or at least by the trial judge’s expansive reading of it. This provision aims to allow lawmakers to avoid legal liability for things they say or do in Congress. The idea is to protect elected representatives from being sued or prosecuted for performing their constitutional duties. You might assume that this clause—while sensibly protecting lawmakers from things like libel suits or criminal charges over controversial floor speeches—would have a carveout for public corruption cases. It, in fact, does not. Read literally, it appears quite broad. “For any speech or debate in either House, [members of Congress] shall not be questioned in any other place,” it says. The feds had argued they could sidestep this provision by avoiding evidence concerning officials acts Menendez took. Instead, they planned to focus on text messages related to his alleged promises to take corrupt actions. But last week, after the trial was well underway, US District Judge Sidney Stein said he would bar prosecutors from introducing text messages that, they allege, showed the people who bribed Menendez discussing “getting their money’s worth” from the senator.

You see you can argue Trump isn't being politically prosecuted but it's hard when it's impossible to prosecute congressmen even for the most flagrant corruption possible.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sebastian Murdock at HuffPost:

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) will resign effective Aug. 20 following his conviction Tuesday for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Menendez submitted his resignation to the Senate on Tuesday.

Menendez’s plan to resign was initially reported by the New Jersey Globe and The Washington Post. The senator’s office did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment. Menendez was found guilty of all 16 counts against him Tuesday at his federal corruption trial for accepting bribes of gold and cash from several New Jersey businessmen. The trial also found he was acting as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government. In an indictment in the Southern District of New York, unsealed in September, the senator was found to have taken bribes including $100,000 in gold bars and $480,000 in cash in return for official acts aiding an Egyptian American businessman and the Egyptian government.

[...] Menendez’s resignation will come after 44 Senate Democrats called on him to step down or risk getting expelled. “In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said minutes after Menendez was found guilty.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) will resign from his Senate seat, effective August 20th, after being convicted of 16 obstruction and bribery charges.

[beardedmrbean]

Several gold bars discovered by federal agents in Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez's residence as part of a high-profile bribery investigation can be traced to a violent robbery a decade ago.

According to a sprawling indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors in September, Menendez and his wife allegedly played a role in a years-long bribery scheme that involved the Egyptian government and local businessmen including Fred Daibes, a wealthy New Jersey real estate developer. Prosecutors revealed they retrieved multiple gold bars from Menendez's home which were allegedly used as payment in the scheme.

At least four of the gold bars discovered by investigators can be linked to Daibes, both because of their unique engraved serial numbers and thanks to court documents related to a 2013 robbery which Daibes was a victim of, an NBC New York investigation revealed Monday. In November 2013, four assailants beat and robbed Daibes at gunpoint in his Edgewater, New Jersey, apartment, stealing 22 gold bars, jewelry and cash.

"Each gold bar has its own serial number," Daibes told local investigators in a 2014 transcript obtained by NBC New York. "They’re all stamped … you’ll never see two stamped the same way."

5 EXPLOSIVE REVELATIONS FROM DEM SEN BOB MENENDEZ'S BOMBSHELL FEDERAL INDICTMENT

Photographs released by the Department of Justice in September showing the gold bars discovered at Menendez's home, for example, reveal one of the bars has a serial number of "590005." Daibes reported a gold bar with that same serial number stolen during the 2013 heist, NBC New York reported.

And the federal indictment notes that the serial numbers on the gold bars indicate they had previously been possessed by Daibes.

MSNBC'S ALICIA MENENDEZ ADDRESSES FATHER'S INDICTMENT: COLLEAGUES HAVE 'AGGRESSIVELY' COVERED

"A court-authorized search of the residence of Robert Menendez and Nadine Menendez, a/k/a ‘Nadine Arslanian,’ the defendants, revealed, among other things, approximately two one-kilogram gold bars and nine one-ounce gold bars that had serial numbers indicating they had previously been possessed by Fred Daibes, the defendant," the indictment states.

In addition, when Daibes reported the robbery to police in 2013, he said 22 gold bars had been taken. Similarly, the September indictment states that Daibes sold 22 gold bars to Wael Hana, another defendant allegedly implicated in the bribery scheme.

Police ultimately arrested and charged four individuals for robbing Daibes in 2013, according to local media reports. Then, in September 2015, the suspects all pled guilty and were ultimately sentenced to several months in prison.

Meanwhile, since the federal bribery indictment was unsealed earlier this year, Menendez has repeatedly asserted his innocence and remained in the Senate.

"The allegations leveled against me are just that, allegations," Menendez said Sept. 25. "For anyone who has known me throughout my 50 years of public service, they know I have always fought for what is right. My advocacy has always been grounded. And what I learned from growing up as the son of Cuban refugees, especially my mom, my hero, Evangelina Menendez. Everything I accomplished, I worked for despite the nay sayers and everyone who has underestimated me.

"I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be New Jersey’s senior senator," he added.  "The court of public opinion is no substitute for our revered justice system. We cannot set aside the presumption of innocence for political expediency when the harm is irrevocable."

[progressivepower]

New Jersey's governor calls on Menendez to resign after indictment. "I am calling for his immediate resignation," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said of Sen. Robert Menendez, a fellow Democrat. https://t.co/PHY1tM1gYP http://dlvr.it/SwV0b8

[faerie-hideaway]

U.S. users email your representatives this, and make sure to include your zip code:

I am your constituent. I am strongly in favor of defunding Israel. I want my opinion logged on every single one of these pieces of legislation. It is an atrocity that the USA is sending our taxpayer dollars, weaponry, and other support to Israel in order to aid in the genocide of the Palestinian people. It does not reflect the will of your constituents, and I demand that you correct this by voting for/against the following bills, resolutions, and legislation.

To be frank, I will be basing my vote for you in upcoming elections on this issue. I will be watching closely to see how you vote on issues regarding funding to Israel. I will not vote for you in the next election if you vote to send any money, support, or weaponry to Israel. I will be voting for you if you vote to block money, support, and weaponry to Israel.

This is the current legislation I am for, and the current legislation I am against. I would like your office to record my opinion for each bill, and I would like you to take this into consideration when you vote.

I am FOR the following, and expect you to vote for this and co-sponsor, either now or when matching legislation reaches your office.

H.Res. 786: by Rep. Cori Bush

H.Res. 388 by Rep. Rashida Tlaib

H.R. 3103 by Rep. Betty McCollum

I am against Joe Biden’s proposal to spend billions of dollars on Israel via a package for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the US border. Biden is asking for $100 BILLION for this package and it is only 1 YEAR'S worth of funding. This is ABSOLUTELY unacceptable, and I am against you voting for ANY bill that spends even $1 on Israel. I do not care what else is in the bill. If it gives money to Israel, I am against it.

I am AGAINST the following, and expect you to vote against this and not co-sponsor, either now or when matching legislation reaches your office.

S. 3083 by Sen. Bill Hagerty [R-TN]

S.Res. 417 by Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer [D-NY]

H.Res. 797 by Rep. Cory Mills [R-FL7]

S. 3081 by Sen. Steve Daines [R-MT]

H.Res. 796 by Rep. Ernest “Tony” Gonzales [R-TX23]

S.Res. 413 by Sen. Marco Rubio

H.R. 552 by Rep. Lance Gooden

H.R. 5959 by Thomas Tiffany

S. 3081 by Sen. Steve Daines

H.Res. 789 by Rep. Jefferson Van Drew

H.Res. 771 by Rep. Michael McCaul

H.R. 5932 by Rep. David Schweikert

H.Res. 768 by Rep. Michael McCaul

H.Res. 770 by Rep. Zachary (Zach) Nunn

H.Res. 701 by Rep. Bradley “Brad” Schneider

H.Con.Res. 61 by Rep. Janice “Jan” Schakowsky

S. 2587 by Sen. Jon Tester

H.Res. 606 by Rep. Andrew Ogles

S. 2413 by Sen. Robert “Bob” Menendez

S. 2438 by Sen. Christopher Coons

H.R. 4709 by Rep. Josh Gottheimer

S.Con.Res. 14: by Sen. Tom Cotton

H.Con.Res. 57 by Rep. August Pfluger

H.R. 4665 by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart

S. 2265 by Sen. Dan Sullivan

S. 2226 by Sen. John F. “Jack” Reed

H.Res. 581 by Rep. Gregory Steube

S. 2240 by Sen. Christopher Coons

H.R. 4564 by Rep. Claudia Tenney

H.R. 4365 by Rep. Ken Calvert

H.R. 4076 by Rep. Chris Pappas

H.R. 3932 by Rep. Michael Turner

H.R. 3907 by Rep. Lois Frankel

S. 1802 by Sen. Gary Peters

H.R. 3792 by Rep. Joe Wilson

S. 1777 by Sen. Jacky Rosen

H.R. 3393 by Rep. Carlos Gimenez

H.Res. 409 by Rep. Carlos Gimenez

S. 1637 by Sen. Marco Rubio

H.R. 3266 by Rep. Brad Sherman

S. 1504 by Sen. Tom Cotton

H.R. 3099 by Rep. Michael Lawler

S.Res. 188 by Sen. Robert “Bob” Menendez

H.Res. 346 by Rep. Randy Weber

H.R. 2973 by Rep. Cathy Anne McMorris Rodgers

S. 1334: by Sen. Jacky Rosen

S. 1300 by Sen. Benjamin Cardin

H.Res. 311 by Rep. Ann Wagner

H.R. 2670 by Rep. Mike Rogers

H.R. 2531 by Rep. Bradley “Brad” Schneider

S. 1143 by Sen. Jerry Moran

H.R. 1777 by Rep. Joe Wilson

H.R. 1218 by Rep. August Pfluger

H.R. 1102 by Rep. Chip Roy

S. 510 by Sen. Tom Cotton

S. 489 by Sen. Rick Scott

S. 430 by Sen. James Risch

S. 431 by Sen. James Risch

H.R. 987 by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

H.Res. 92 by Rep. Josh Gottheimer

H.Res. 76 by Rep. Max Miller

H.R. 687 by Rep. Gregory Steube

H.R. 211 by Rep. Gregory Steube

S. 224 by Sen. Tom Cotton

S. 189 by Sen. Marco Rubio

I am against any legislation that allows troops to deploy to the Middle East in support roles for Israel, as proposed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

I am against Netanyahu’s ground invasion of Gaza, which will inevitably lead to mass killings of Palestinian civilians and escalate violence. If there are any future bills supporting this, you need to vote against them and not co-sponsor.

The U.S. Constitution and the War Powers Act stipulate that only Congress can authorize the president to use military force in a foreign war, except in cases of self-defense. Previous administrations from both parties have ignored this, with unauthorized strikes in places like Syria and Libya. I want you to stand against ANY use of military force that supports Israel or hurts Palestine.

And of course, I am against the usual funding of $3.8 billion PER YEAR to Israel. This 10-year agreement began in 2016. I do not want a renewal in 2026, and in the next election, I will vote for representatives who WILL NOT VOTE TO FUND ISRAEL. I will be keeping track of how you vote now, and I will not vote for you if you decide to fund Israel in any way.

I am a single-issue voter for this. I want you to defund Israel. I do not want a single dollar spent on supporting Israel. I will be paying attention to how you vote in the upcoming weeks and months, and if you vote to fund or provide weapons, troops, or intelligence to Israel, I will NOT vote for you in the next election.

We are paying attention to the budget. We know when you're giving aid to a country committing genocide instead of helping your constituents in the USA. Both myself and tens of thousands of other constituents have spent years saying that we don’t want our hard-earned taxpayer dollars going to Israel. The lack of willingness to fund anything for American citizens, but the quickness with which you take action for Israel is telling. It is unacceptable.

As an elected official, you have the opportunity to listen to the public and stand against genocide. Israel is currently committing war crimes against Palestine. You can stop this by defunding Israel. THOUSANDS of Palestinian people have been killed, 1/3 of them children, in just a couple of days. One child every 15 minutes is being killed. YOU can prevent this by refusing to send additional weapons and funding to Israel.

We are currently spending BILLIONS of dollars EVERY YEAR on Israel. I do not want my money going towards the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians. Not a dollar more.

[tomorrowusa]

Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ-03 ) now looks like the overwhelming favorite to be elected the next US senator from New Jersey.

After incumbent Sen. Robert Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges last September, three-term Rep. Kim announced that he would challenge him in the June 2024 primary. Soon after, New Jersey's first lady Tammy Murphy announced that she would also run for the Menendez seat.

Despite Tammy Murphy's clout and backing from the NJ political machine, Kim has held a solid lead in the polls and was unexpectedly winning endorsements from Democratic organizations in a number of NJ counties.

This month, Menendez anounced he would not compete in the primary. And last weekend Tammy Murphy suspended her campaign. There are still a couple of minor candidates in the primary but Andy Kim is now the clear favorite.

Not only is Andy Kim the likely winner of the primary, his campaign is leading to a reform of an archaic way of listing candidates on New Jersey primary ballots.

So Andy Kim didn’t just win a primary. He might have forced the machine to relinquish its iron grip. And politics just might be viable again in the Garden State. [ ... ] New Jersey has perhaps the most connection in the modern day to the old-line machine politics of the past. Reforms have weakened the power of Tammany Hall and its antecedents virtually everywhere, except in New Jersey. Voters have generally decided that they want to be in control of who represents them, and this simple request has imploded the gilded towers of the presumed deciders in our politics. That’s not to discount the achievement here, though. The combination of a comically corrupt senator and what people clearly saw as a corrupt process to replace him proved too much for the system to bear. But without Kim stepping up, with his profile as an ethical anomaly in the state and a message to run directly against that corruption, to loudly highlight the deficiencies of the system, it probably would have lingered on a while longer. It turns out that running on an actual belief system in politics can defeat the cynicism of a machine.

As for Republicans, the last time a GOP senator was elected from New Jersey, Richard Nixon was busy engaging in the Watergate cover-up.

NJ first lady Tammy Murphy ends Senate campaign, paving way for Andy Kim

In addition to his liberal record on domestic issues, Andy Kim has a strong background in national security and foreign affairs.

Personally, he is virtually the AntiTrump. He is personally modest and ethical. He earned his degrees and was even a Rhodes Scholar. He has respect for the institutions of democracy and for the people who serve them.

The night after the January 6th pro-Trump terrorists rampaged through the US Capitol, Andy Kim helped clean up some of the debris left by MAGA criminals.

Behind the viral photo of Rep. Andy Kim cleaning up at midnight after riots

I haven't been so enthusiastic about a politician since Barack Obama. And it's entirely possible that Andy Kim could be the Barack Obama of 2028; but first we have to defeat Trump this year.

[zvaigzdelasas]

Under intense grilling today by the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a mid-level Biden-Harris administration aide repeatedly dodged direct questions about the State Department’s failure to break Azerbaijan’s genocidal blockade of Artsakh – even refusing, on national security grounds, to answer Chairman Robert Menendez’s (D-NJ) straightforward query about Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s motives for starving 120,000 indigenous Christian Armenians, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Thursday’s hearing, titled “Assessing the Crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh,” was chaired by Sen. Menendez (D-NJ) and featured testimony by Acting Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia Yuri Kim. The chair led members of the committee in direct, often confrontational questioning of the State Department refusal to hold Azerbaijan accountable or to provide urgently needed humanitarian aid to Artsakh.[...]

when asked by Senator Menendez “why the United States is not or cannot do more to get humanitarian assistance [to Artsakh],” the Acting Assistant Secretary of State pointed to the passage of a single Russian Red Cross truck through the secondary Aghdam road to Artsakh, noting “that traffic is now flowing,” though she agreed with Senate leaders, “it is not enough.” When asked by Senator Menendez, “Why do you think, despite its signed commitments and a ruling by the International Court of Justice to open the Lachin Corridor, that Aliyev is not opening the corridor?”, Acting Assistant Secretary Kim refused to answer publicly, inferring the matter is classified.[...]

Chairman Menendez was joined by Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) in pressing the State Department to enforce Section 907 restrictions on U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) “I have repeatedly expressed my deep opposition to waiving Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, allowing the United States to send assistance to his regime. This clearly alters the balance of military power between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Aliyev’s favor. I think Azerbaijan’s actions over the past three years have vindicated my skepticism,” stated Chairman Menendez. “When you routinely give the waiver under Section 907, saying that Azerbaijan has demonstrated steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia when that’s just not the case,” stated Sen. Cardin, “we lose credibility when that happens, when we aren’t prepared to take decisive steps based upon our values.”[...]

Acting Assistant Secretary Kim defended previous waivers of Section 907, noting that assistance has been used for counter-terrorism and other purposes. She confirmed that President Biden’s 2022 waiver had expired in June. “We have not submitted a new waiver request yet because we are reviewing the situation very carefully,” stated Acting Assistant Secretary Kim.

17 Sep 23

[follow-up-news]

Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez will resign next month after he was found guilty on all 16 counts in a federal bribery and corruption trial. The New Jersey senator officially informed Gov. Phil Murphy of his decision in a letter Tuesday. "This is to advise you that I will be resigning from my office as the United States Senator from New Jersey, effective on the close of business on August 20, 2024," Menendez said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News.

[popolitiko]

Jon Stewart Gives Sen. Robert Menendez a Corruption Lesson

Jon Stewart digs into the trial of comically corrupt Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and in a new segment called "How Dumb Is You?" asks the senator how he got caught engaging in such obvious illegal corruption, while government officials like Nancy Pelosi, Richard Burr, and Roy Blunt have been getting away with legal corruption for years.

Comments

Accepting bribes? What does he think he is, a Supreme Court justice?

You might wanna look up Last Week Tonight's episode on Journalism. Because this is not it. The papers, reporters and news segments that Jon inserted and quoted here are the journalism. And by that I don't mean to diminish him, the TDS or other such shows. Making such news easy to understand and entertaining is a very important aspect of letting the population know these things. It's simply even more important to understand where the information comes from and not to forget about these hard working people, who find out the truth for all of us.

This is what actual journalism looks like.

You don't know what journalism is. This is a comedy show.

Bingo! Seriously people, do you not get that Stewart is only COMMENTING on known stories and issues and he is doing that by QUOTING OTHER JOURNALISTS who've already done the hard work? Are Americans that dense?

How sad is it that yall dont get sarcasm. How dumb is yall?

Actually, they’re both journalism. It’s not an either/or proposition. This is more than just commentary. Journalism both includes on-the-ground primary source reporting and the compiling and contextualizing of factual information into larger coherent reports on aspects of the world… which this absolutely counts as.

But go on, everyone loves a sanctimonious gatekeeper.

If you’re going to accuse an entire group of people of being “dense,” the accusation shouldn’t immediately follow a smug tirade in which you mischaracterize what you’re talking about.

He relies on actual news reporting for his segments. So, that's actual journalism, and this is actual commentary on actual journalism.

[seriouslycromulent]

Jon Stewart Gives Sen. Robert Menendez a Corruption Lesson | The Daily ...

This was a brilliant breakdown of how pervasive corruption is in our government. I appreciate how he pointed out how it's a problem with both major parties.

This was funny, but informative. And it made me feel even more exhausted about the world than I already did.

As a NJ resident, I can't even say I'm surprised that Menéndez was so cartoonishly corrupt. After the story broke that he was being indicted and all the stuff they found at his house, I was like, "Come on! You just got sloppy. Who does stuff that obvious other than villains from '80s movies and NJ politicians?!"

[hezigler]

Watch "Jon Stewart Gives Sen. Robert Menendez a Corruption Lesson | The Daily Show" on YouTube

"We have the best government money can buy." Mark Twain

[gage0mate]

Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez Indicted On Bribery Charges | HuffPost Latest News

The dude thinks he's a Retrumplikkkan

[beardedmrbean]

Nadine Arslanian Menendez, the wife and co-defendant of recently indicted Sen. Robert Menendez, struck and killed a man while driving in New Jersey in 2018, according to media reports.

The Record and The New York Times, citing police reports and police dash cam video, reported that Nadine Menendez, who was dating the senator at the time, was found by police in the small borough of Bogota to be “not at fault” in the crash in the because the victim, Richard Koop, was jaywalking. She was allowed to leave the scene.

Nadine, whose Mercedes was severely damaged, was not taken into custody or tested for drugs and alcohol, according to The Record. She was later joined at the scene by a retired cop from nearby Hackensack who told police that he didn’t know her but he was doing her a favor because she was a friend of his friend’s wife, according to The New York Times.

The accident, though not its circumstances, was mentioned in the indictment against the senator, his wife and three co-defendants: Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes. According to the indictment, Uribe, a businessperson, financed a new Mercedes for Nadine Menendez in exchange for the senator’s attempts to interfere in an unrelated state criminal case against Uribe by pressuring prosecutors.

There’s no indication that Sen. Menendez’s name came up during the police investigation of the crash, though a witness at the scene told The New York Times that “there appeared to be a lot of secrecy” and that he heard Nadine Menendez repeatedly tell officers she was going to call someone.

Koop’s sister, Rosemarie Koop-Angelicola, told The New York Times that they never heard from Nadine Menendez or the senator, and suspected that the case was deliberately kept quiet.

“Definitely a lack of legal enthusiasm to take this case, definite lack of media coverage, and a lack of communication by the authorities of Bergen County. We felt that the whole thing was very silently swept under the rug,” she said.

Municipal court records available online show Nadine Menendez has a history of several traffic offenses, most recently pleading guilty in Tenafly municipal court in 2021 to using a handheld phone while driving and paying $240 in penalties and fees. She was charged with the same offense in Englewood in 2016, though records say it was dismissed as part of a plea agreement and do not indicate what if any penalty she faced. In 2012, she pleaded guilty to “failure to observe traffic control device,” paying $85. She was charged with the same offense in Jersey City in 2005, though records were not immediately available on the disposition of the case. In 2007, she pleaded guilty to improper passing in East Rutherford Municipal court and paid $85 in fines and fees.

[progressivepower]

Sen. Robert Menendez To Resign After Being Convicted Of Bribery, Corruption Charges http://dlvr.it/T9zTGx

[tomorrowusa]

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) needs to resign ASAP. He has been associated with scandals in the past though there had usually been a plausible (if thin) element of deniability. This latest scandal is different. If this were fiction, people might call it laughably unreal.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and other top Garden State Democrats are calling on Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez to resign – a sign of how quickly the senator’s political support may erode after Friday’s shocking indictment on federal bribery charges. “The alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state,” Murphy, a Democrat, said in a statement. [ ... ] Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes,” including gold, cash and a luxury vehicle in exchange for the senator’s influence.

Seriously, gold bars?

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez of NJ indicted a 2nd time on corruption charges

The indictment alleges real estate developer Fred Daibes; Wael Hana, who owns a halal meat certification business in New Jersey; and businessman Jose Uribe collectively provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for Menendez’s “acts and breaches of duty to benefit the Government of Egypt, Hana, and others, including with respect to foreign military sales and foreign military financing.” It also says Menendez provided sensitive information to the Egyptian government. Menendez, a Democrat, leads the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee and is a longtime member of New Jersey’s congressional delegation. The indictment comes almost six years after Menendez was tried on corruption charges related to a Florida eye surgeon, which ended in a mistrial. [ ... ]

The indictment says Menendez took bribes that included “cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-showjob, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value.” Prosecutors also say he interfered with the state attorney general’s office’s investigation into Jose Uribe, a former insurance agent convicted of fraud. The indictment describes Uribe as a business associate of Hana’s.

Some of Bob's gold...

If Menendez were to resign, Gov. Phil Murphy (a Democrat) would appoint a replacement to serve until the next election in 2024. As it turns out, Menendez is up for re-election next year. If he foolishly refused to quit and decided to run again, he'd probably get trounced in the primary.

The Senate can expel a member, but there have been only 30 attempts to do so since the adoption of our current constitution. Only half of those were actually expelled – the last one in 1862.

Damian Williams is the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He opened the investigation of Menendez last year and secured the three-count indictment against the senator. Williams is a Democrat appointed by President Joe Biden. So the Menendez indictment makes it more difficult for Trump and his followers to claim that the two federal indictments against him in Florida and DC are a partisan "witch hunt" targeting him.