How is Bob Menendez Still in the United States Senate?
Guy Benson
Leah noted yesterday that New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez has been hit with even more federal criminal charges this week. We'll get to those below, but first, let's recap some of the relevant history here: The Garden State's senior Senator was indicted back in 2015 on corruption charges, but beat the rap a few years later. He handily won re-election in 2018, in a deep blue state and a deep blue year. Then came the extraordinary new federal charges filed in September of last year, which entailed taking elaborate bribes and aiding foreign governments while chairing the upper chamber's Foreign Relations Committee:
The indictment alleges that Menendez and his wife accepted "hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using" the senator's "power and influence to ... seek to protect and enrich" the businessmen. "Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value," the indictment said. Prosecutors allege that Menendez "promised to and did use his influence and power and breach his official duty in ways that benefited the Government of Egypt," as well as Egyptian-American businessman Wael Hana. The indictment also says that Menendez "provided sensitive U.S. government information" that "secretly aided" the government of Egypt...When they got there, they discovered approximately $500,000 of cash stuffed into envelopes and closets." "Some of the cash was stuffed in the senator's jacket pockets, some of the envelopes of cash contain Daibes' fingerprints, Daibes' DNA," Williams said. The agents also discovered gold worth over $100,000.Menendez lashed out at the prosecution and offered ludicrous excuses for the cash and gold found in his possession. Many Democrats expressed "concerns" or issued perfuntory statements calling for Menendez to step down, but then almost everyone moved on (Sen. John Fetterman has been a notable exception, as he's continued to press the issue fairly aggressively). Another round of charges against Menendez arrived in early January, this time involving another foreign government:
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https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2024/03/07/how-is-bob-menendez-still-in-the-united-states-senate-n2636158
