Ted Cruz: Menendez' Pending Charges Are Obama's 'Political Weapon'
Saturday, 07 Mar 2015 07:02 PM
By Todd Beamon
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz alleged Saturday that the Justice Department's pending criminal corruption charges against New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez may be retaliation by the Obama administration.
He told reporters at the Iowa Agricultural Summit in Des Moines that it was "awfully coincidental" that the charges would be soon forthcoming against Menendez, The Hill reports.
Menendez, 61, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, has long attacked Obama's international policy, including his plans to rebuild ties with Cuba and the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran.
He chaired the Senate panel before the Republicans won control of the upper chamber in the November elections.
"The announcement this week by the Justice Department that they were bringing charges against Bob Menendez — I will point out that the timing seems awfully coincidental that … in the very week that Bob Menendez showed incredible courage to speak out and call out President Obama for the damage that his policy is doing to our national security … the Justice Department announces they’re moving forward with the criminal prosecution," Cruz told the Hill.
"It raises the suggestion to other Democrats that if you dare part from the Obama White House, that criminal prosecutions will be used potentially as a political weapon against you as well," the senator added.
The charges against Menendez are expected to arise from the Justice Department's investigation of the senator's alleged quid-pro-quo relationship with Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist. The probe has been continuing for more than two years.
Menendez is to be accused in the coming weeks of using his Senate office to push Melgen's business interests in exchange for gifts.
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