Bob Menendez is Corrupt
So corrupt. I have been saying this for years. The only thing that keeps him in power is dirty NJ Dem machine politics. Same as Vinny D.
GoSlugs said:
So corrupt. I have been saying this for years. The only thing that keeps him in power is dirty NJ Dem machine politics. Same as Vinny D.
leave Vinny out of this.
dave said:
"appears", "possibility", "might"
Somehow, Bob's wife went from foreclosure on her home in 2019 to owning approximately $250,000 in gold bullion in 2020. Her fortunes changed almost overnight by forming a "consulting" company.
I'd like him gone. He's getting into Clarence Thomas territory now.
yahooyahoo said:
dave said:
"appears", "possibility", "might"
Somehow, Bob's wife went from foreclosure on her home in 2019 to owning approximately $250,000 in gold bullion in 2020. Her fortunes changed almost overnight by forming a "consulting" company.
Her fortunes changed when she met a Senator? Shocking. Stop the presses!
dave said:
Her fortunes changed when she met a Senator? Shocking. Stop the presses!
A corrupt Senator.
Menendez has been under investigation for decades at this point. Chris Christie even tried to influence an election by having his office leak a story that Menendez was under investigation. An investigation that ultimately produced no indictment. Christie's actions in that instance were more corrupt than anything Menendez has ever been accused of, btw.
One other allegation against Menendez turned out to be totally false.
The one allegation that resulted in an indictment ended in a mistrial.
Now we have another leak of an investigation into Menendez's wife's business, and the story is filled with:
dave said:
"appears", "possibility", "might"
I'm not naive, Menendez has committed ethics violations, he's accepted a lot of gifts from wealthy friends that at the very least look really bad for a sitting senator.
But for a guy who's been investigated constantly for a couple of decades, that everyone "knows" is corrupt, these investigations haven't produced a whole lot of evidence of a quid pro quo.
As Jonathan Chait writes, “In American politics, the worst abuses by powerful people usually involve clever ways to exploit the law without committing crimes."
Smedley said:
As Jonathan Chait writes, “In American politics, the worst abuses by powerful people usually involve clever ways to exploit the law without committing crimes."
SCOTUS
ml1 said:
Smedley said:
As Jonathan Chait writes, “In American politics, the worst abuses by powerful people usually involve clever ways to exploit the law without committing crimes."
SCOTUS
Three sentences later, Jonathan Chait writes, “This problem describes the ongoing ethics scandals of both the Supreme Court and Hunter Biden.”
ml1 said:
Menendez has been under investigation for decades at this point. Chris Christie even tried to influence an election by having his office leak a story that Menendez was under investigation. An investigation that ultimately produced no indictment. Christie's actions in that instance were more corrupt than anything Menendez has ever been accused of, btw.
One other allegation against Menendez turned out to be totally false.
The one allegation that resulted in an indictment ended in a mistrial.
Now we have another leak of an investigation into Menendez's wife's business, and the story is filled with:
dave said:
"appears", "possibility", "might"
I'm not naive, Menendez has committed ethics violations, he's accepted a lot of gifts from wealthy friends that at the very least look really bad for a sitting senator.
But for a guy who's been investigated constantly for a couple of decades, that everyone "knows" is corrupt, these investigations haven't produced a whole lot of evidence of a quid pro quo.
Look really bad? The Senate Ethics Panel stated that Menendez did not follow Senate rules or federal law, and that he used his position to advance the personal and business interests of Dr. Melgen.
DaveSchmidt said:
ml1 said:
Smedley said:
As Jonathan Chait writes, “In American politics, the worst abuses by powerful people usually involve clever ways to exploit the law without committing crimes."
SCOTUS
Three sentences later, Jonathan Chait writes, “This problem describes the ongoing ethics scandals of both the Supreme Court and Hunter Biden.”
and?
Smedley said:
DaveSchmidt said:
ml1 said:
Smedley said:
As Jonathan Chait writes, “In American politics, the worst abuses by powerful people usually involve clever ways to exploit the law without committing crimes."
SCOTUS
Three sentences later, Jonathan Chait writes, “This problem describes the ongoing ethics scandals of both the Supreme Court and Hunter Biden.”
and?
And … Chait noted the same thing. And … here’s a link to the full column.
Smedley said:
DaveSchmidt said:
ml1 said:
Smedley said:
As Jonathan Chait writes, “In American politics, the worst abuses by powerful people usually involve clever ways to exploit the law without committing crimes."
SCOTUS
Three sentences later, Jonathan Chait writes, “This problem describes the ongoing ethics scandals of both the Supreme Court and Hunter Biden.”
and?
and that makes him a putz of whataboutery and false equivalence.
yahooyahoo said:
Look really bad? The Senate Ethics Panel stated that Menendez did not follow Senate rules or federal law, and that he used his position to advance the personal and business interests of Dr. Melgen.
here's what I wrote:
I'm not naive, Menendez has committed ethics violations, he's accepted a lot of gifts from wealthy friends that at the very least look really bad for a sitting senator.
Here's what the Senate Ethics Committee wrote:
A Senator should be "ever conscious that public office is a public trust." Code of Ethics
for Government Service~ I 0. A Senator is expected to place "loyalty to the highest moral
principles and to country" above loyalty to others. !d.~ I. A Senator should "[n]ever
discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special favors or privileges to anyone, whether for
remuneration or not; and never accept for himself or his family, favors or benefits under
circumstances which might be constmed by reasonable persons as influencing the performance
of his governmental duties." !d. ~ 5. A Senator is also expected to exercise discretion in
accepting gifts, and be "particularly sensitive" not only to the frequency and value of gifts, but
also to the "possible motives of the donor." Senate Ethics Manual (2003 ed.) at 21-22.
You demonstrated disregard for these standards by placing your Senate office in
Dr. Melgen's service at the same time you repeatedly accepted gifts of significant value from
him. Your assistance to Dr. Melgen under these circumstances demonstrated poor judgment, and
it risked undermining the public's confidence in the Senate. As such, your actions reflected discredit upon the Senate.
basically they said it looked really bad.
Honestly the solution here ought to be electoral. Sadly, the Democratic Party Machine seems to exist mainly to prevent viable primary challenges to corrupt office exploiters like Menendez (and the nefarious Vinny D).
I’d love to see a future President in a seat that is being wasted on a future inmate.
https://nypost.com/2023/08/24/corruption-probe-sen-bob-menendezs-wife-sold-400000-in-gold-bars/
Sen. Bob Menendez’s new wife cashed in up to $400,000 worth of gold bars — despite having faced foreclosure just three years earlier.
The sale, last spring, was months before his office publicly admitted that the New Jersey Democrat was facing a new federal investigation.
Nadine Arslanian, 56, sold the gold between April 7, 2022, and June 16, 2022, according to the senator’s annual public disclosures. It is equivalent to as much as 13 pounds of pure gold.
The sale was a remarkable financial turnaround for Arslanian, who had reportedly been struggling financially, even facing foreclosure on her home, before she married Menendez in 2020.
---------------------
https://nypost.com/2023/08/25/doj-considering-charging-sen-bob-menendez-in-corruption-probe/
Lawyers for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) are expected to meet with federal prosecutors in the coming weeks as the Justice Department nears a decision on whether to charge the powerful lawmaker after a years-long corruption probe.
The expected discussions between the 69-year-old’s legal team and prosecutors from the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office will provide Menendez an opportunity to make the case for why he shouldn’t be indicted, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
It’s unclear what potential counts could be leveled against the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman or whether his wife, 56-year-old Nadine Arslanian, has been implicated in the government’s investigation, according to the outlet.
The Southern District of New York’s probe into both Menendez and Arslanian — who had been struggling financially and facing foreclosure on her home before marrying the senator in 2020 — has focused on whether they received unreported luxury gifts, including a car and a Washington apartment, in return for political favors, according to reports.
Here we go again ...
A press event will be held today at 11:00 a.m. to announce the unsealing of an indictment charging Robert Menendez, U.S. Senator from New Jersey, and his wife, Nadine Menendez, with bribery offenses in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen. pic.twitter.com/CLTXnU0mAm
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) September 22, 2023
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sen-bob-menendez-indicted-federal-charges-rcna111447
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., has been indicted on federal bribery charges, the Justice Department announced Friday.
The indictment alleged that Menendez and his wife, Nadine, received “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in bribes and used the senator’s influence to enrich several businessmen from New Jersey, as well as the Egyptian government.
Menendez received cash, gold bars, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low- or no-show job, a luxury vehicle and other items of value, the filing said.
The indictment also alleged that Menendez provided sensitive U.S. government information and pressured an official at the Agriculture Department for the purpose of protecting Egyptian American businessman Wael Hanna and the government of Egypt. Menendez interfered in an investigation undertaken by the New Jersey attorney general into New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe, it said.
Menendez “promised to and did use his influence and power and breach his official duty to recommend that the President nominate an individual for U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey who Menendez believed could be influenced by Menendez with respect to the federal prosecution of Fred Daibes," a New Jersey developer, the indictment said.
He's got to resign so we can get someone in to have a head start next year. I nominate Sheena Collum.
Jaytee said:
Lock him up already!
He's only 69 and this is only 1 indictment so I say
Menendez '24 baby!
Feels like this indictment may have some teeth. I rather doubt that the Justice Department would bother with a weak case against Menendez.
tjohn said:
Feels like this indictment may have some teeth. I rather doubt that the Justice Department would bother with a weak case against Menendez.
is this irony?
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More Menendez madness. Now his new wife is involved.
This guy is so dirty. Can we please get rid of him?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/senator-wife-her-old-friends-122734372.html
In early 2019, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his new girlfriend, Nadine Arslanian, were riding high.
He had avoided a federal bribery conviction after his trial ended with a hung jury, and the couple had begun traveling the world.
Menendez proposed to Arslanian that October in India with a grand gesture, singing “Never Enough” from “The Greatest Showman” outside the Taj Mahal. They married a year later in a small ceremony in the Queens borough of New York City and were showered with gifts from a dozen influential friends, including the head of one of New Jersey’s largest health care systems and a lawyer who would later become the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.
The senator moved into his wife’s modest split-level house in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and they have since attended two state dinners at the White House, dining with the president of France and the prime minister of India.
But their whirlwind romance has taken a sudden dark turn.
Menendez, the 69-year-old Democratic chair of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, is under investigation by the Justice Department for the second time in less than a decade. And this time, his wife is also in prosecutors’ crosshairs.
The new inquiry, led by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, appears to be focused at least in part on the possibility that either the senator or his wife received undisclosed gifts from a company run by a friend of Nadine Menendez, and that those gifts might have been given in exchange for political favors, according to two people with knowledge of the matter and subpoenas issued in the case.