‘This is what bribery looks like’: Sen. Menendez corruption trial gets underwayWashington Post, Sep 6, 2017, Devlin Barrett
The bribery trial of Sen. Robert Menendez began Wednesday with a federal prosecutor denouncing what he called a seven-year stretch of corruption in the service of a wealthy Florida eye doctor.
“This is what bribery looks like,’’ said Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Koski in opening arguments at U.S. District Court in Newark. “These two defendants corrupted one of the most powerful offices in our country. The defendants didn’t just trade money for power, they also tried to cover it up.’’
Menendez (D) is accused of taking luxury trips, private jet rides and campaign donations from Salomon Melgen, a doctor in West Palm Beach. The two have spent years fighting the charges, saying their trips together were evidence only of their friendship, not crimes.
The prosecutor, in his hour-long speech to jurors, derided that defense argument.
“There’s no friendship exception to bribery,’’ Koski said. “Friends can’t commit crimes together. Friends can’t bribe each other.’’
Prosecutors allege that Menendez repeatedly pulled strings to help Melgen in a variety of areas: in getting his girlfriends U.S. visas, in trying to resolve the doctor’s $8.9 million billing dispute with Medicare, and in an effort to help Melgen’s efforts to make money from a port security contract in the Dominican Republic.
“Senator Menendez went to bat for Doctor Elgen at the highest levels of our federal government over the course of many years . . . because Melgen gave Menendez access to a lifestyle that reads like a travel brochure for the rich and famous,’’ Koski said. “Make no mistake about it — Robert Menendez was Salomon Melgen’s personal United States senator.’’
More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/menendez-will-be-first-sitting-senator-in-almost-a-decade-to-face-corruption-trial/2017/09/05/6a023a78-9274-11e7-8754-d478688d23b4_story.html?utm_term=.1dfb665fe5a3
