Senator Bob Menendez and Wife Indicted for Bribery

Donal said:
Those don't work like that anymore. Any bank that wants access to SWIFT (and they all do) has to follow very specific transparency and reporting requirements.
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It does seem a bit reckless to keep your horde of bribe money and gold in your home though, especially considering Menendez was almost certainly on the feds' radar with his prior brush with corruption.

Hell, if you have gold bars you could bury them somewhere.

That said, I'm not expecting much from a US politician that gets caught up in this kind of corruption. It's already legal to accept bribes in like 99% of scenarios, it takes a real greedy moron to not be content with that and do the 1% of corruption that is illegal in this country.
 
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TurkeysGhost said:
It does seem a bit reckless to keep your horde of bribe money and gold in your home though, especially considering Menendez was almost certainly on the feds' radar with his prior brush with corruption.

Hell, if you have gold bars you could bury them somewhere.
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Hold them in a bonded warehouse in an "economic development zone". The entire fine art market is just a cover for various financial crimes.

That said, I'm not expecting much from a US politician that gets caught up in this kind of corruption. It's already legal to accept bribes in like 99% of scenarios, it takes a real greedy moron to not be content with that and do the 1% of corruption that is illegal in this country.
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That's actually why I think he will face jail time. He is messing it up for the rest of them. He will be punished for being dumb enough to get caught.
 
Donal said:
I'm not sure the DoJ will care. unless he's hoping he can stall into 2025 and Trump wins. Then, Menendez can "See the light" and jump parties, which will coincidentally happen the day before all the charges get dropped.
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If he's any sense it will be the day AFTER; just in case...
 
The Senate is most likely going to be +1 in either direction. They'll want his vote.
 
I'm just reading this and thinking about all the times that purely innocent people asked to be paid in gold bars where there was not even a hint of impropriety.
 
Craig4 said:
I'm just reading this and thinking about all the times that purely innocent people asked to be paid in gold bars where there was not even a hint of impropriety.
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To be fair, I don't know what the cash/currency situation is in Cuba, where some of his family is.
 
Donal said:
Forget the bank records, basic history proves this wrong. His parents immigrated not fled from Cuba in 1953. Castro didn't take power until l1959. He's pedaling the same BS as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. The US back dictator Batista hadn't even seized power yet. (although him and his cronies had been cycling through the presidency)
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Here's where I got the Cuba family thing.

ETA So he may have cousins there, I don't know, and whether he sends/brings them money is a long shot.
 
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Yeah, exactly. His parents immigrated from Cuba in 1953. He was born in New York City in 1954, so while he may have relatives in Cuba, hypothetically, neither Wikipedia nor his own website makes any mention of them.

And just to note, as a senator, Menendez has been very critical of policies allowing sending money to people in Cuba. Prior to Obama's policy change, Cuban Americans were either limited or prohibited from sending money to relatives in Cuba. So at the very least, Menendez would have been guilty of hypocrisy in sending money to his own (hypothetical) relatives in Cuba.
 
Puppycow said:
Yeah, exactly. His parents immigrated from Cuba in 1953. He was born in New York City in 1954, so while he may have relatives in Cuba, hypothetically, neither Wikipedia nor his own website makes any mention of them.

And just to note, as a senator, Menendez has been very critical of policies allowing sending money to people in Cuba. Prior to Obama's policy change, Cuban Americans were either limited or prohibited from sending money to relatives in Cuba. So at the very least, Menendez would have been guilty of hypocrisy in sending money to his own (hypothetical) relatives in Cuba.
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Good info. Yes, he's ****** politically if he says the stash is to take to Cuba, not that he's even said anything of the sort.
 
Donal said:
Forget the bank records, basic history proves this wrong. His parents immigrated not fled from Cuba in 1953. Castro didn't take power until l1959. He's pedaling the same BS as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. The US back dictator Batista hadn't even seized power yet. (although him and his cronies had been cycling through the presidency)
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It's a result of weird views we have in this country about Hispanic immigrants. Cubans fleeing Castro are seen as "good" immigrants yearning for freedom and the American way, in stark contrast to the "bad" immigrants, those coming from any other country in Latin America for rather mundane financial reasons. For reasons hard to explain outside racism, the hordes of Germans, Scandinavians, and other ethnic whites that immigrated to this country for purely economic reasons are not seen with the same stigma as their Latin American analogues.

Menendez's family almost certainly came to this country for the mundane reason that a lot of immigrants are drawn to the US, for a chance at a better life, but that's not as dramatic and noble as fleeing communist oppression.
 
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Puppycow said:
Apparently Republicans are coming to Menendez’s defense? Tom Cotton for example?

I’m listening to the latest episode of Serious Trouble.

It’s a political role reversal. Democrats calling for his resignation while Republicans are saying let’s not rush to judgment.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate...nds-bob-menendez-jury-should-decide-fate/amp/
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Yeah, the obvious explanation is that Trump is almost certainly going to be beset by multiple criminal accusations and trials when he's running, so they need to stake out a general position that open corruption and criminal activity doesn't matter, or at least doesn't matter until after a conviction (which could take years).

If Trump's behavior isn't disqualifying than neither is Menendez's.
 
Hercules56 said:
Is there a Senate committee investigation looking into Bob?
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Not that I'm aware of. There's a Justice Department investigation as these are crimes not merely ethics concerns.

The Senate Ethics committee appears to be rather toothless:

The Menendez Indictment Reveals Exactly How Senate Ethics Enforcement is Broken

This system does not work. A recent study found that of the 1,523 complaints sent to the Senate Ethics Committee since 2007, zero resulted in any formal disciplinary sanctions over 15 years. This is a pervasive ethics enforcement problem in the Senate that has flown under the radar for far too long, and it will only become worse unless we put a stop to the status quo of self-policing.
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In the past they did formally "admonish" Sen. Menendez, but there was no actual penalty associated with that. It amounts to no more than wagging one's finger and saying "shame on you."

More recently Sen. Fetterman has called for Menendez to be kicked out:

Fetterman calls for Menendez ouster, says actions ‘more sinister’ than Santos

“We have a colleague in the Senate that actually does much more sinister and serious kinds of things: Sen. Menendez. He needs to go. And if you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate?” Fetterman said.
. . .

Fetterman said Santos’s “lies were almost, you know, funny” like he “landed on the moon and that kind of stuff.”

“Whereas, I think Menendez, I think is really a senator for Egypt, not New Jersey. So, I really think he needs to go,” he added.

Fetterman made his comments after the House voted 311-114 to expel Santos.
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Good for Fetterman. He's not mincing words or hiding behind waiting to see the result of the trial. He's not trying to be diplomatic about it.

Remember when Al Franken was basically shamed into resigning? And that was over basically frat-boy-like behavior, not a serious crime like accepting bribes. But even if we agree that it was so serious that he needed to resign, how is what Menendez did not at least equally grave, if not more so?
 
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I thought the Republicans were in control? Why aren't they starting the process to throw him out?
 
Darat said:
Is that really how puerile the USA political system has become that each party gets to take a turn at starting an investigation?
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Cute.

The Republicans investigated Santos and kicked him out. Will the Dems do the same for Menendez?
 
Darat said:
I thought the Republicans were in control? Why aren't they starting the process to throw him out?
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varwoche said:
They control the House, not the Senate.
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And I'm not even sure that it's a purely partisan calculation when it comes to the Senate.

For starters, he will be replaced by a Democratic governor if he is kicked out, so it's not a free seat for Republicans.

But the other thing is that Senators tend to be careerists who plan to spend decades in the senate, and they know that control of the senate tends to swing back and forth, so even if they are in the majority right now, they are unlikely to be in the majority for their entire career. This is why the senate has rules that are friendly to the minority, like the 60-vote rule and rules that allow a single member to hold up processes like military promotions, even when in the minority. And they also want a toothless, do-nothing ethics committee.
 
His trial is imminent

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loc...b-menendez-gold-bar-corruption-trial/5405278/

The senator’s lawyers have suggested in court papers that he will defend himself in part by claiming his wife, Nadine, kept him in the dark about her dealings with the businessmen, who also are charged in the case.
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Is the senator actually going to attempt to throw his own wife under the bus to save himself?

One of them, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty and is expected to testify. He was accused of buying a Mercedes-Benz for Nadine Menendez after her previous car was destroyed when she struck and killed a man crossing the street. She did not face criminal charges in connection with the fatal crash.

Prosecutors said Sen. Menendez twice tried to help Uribe by trying to influence criminal investigations involving his business associates.
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I guess we'll see.
 
They really should have forced him to step down or not run in 2018. The Democrats reall yare their own worst enemy
 
Some updates:
Key prosecution witness says he bribed New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez

New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe testified Friday that he bribed Sen. Bob Menendez as part of a scheme to derail the prosecution of an associate and shield Uribe and his close friends and family from being dragged into a related investigation.
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Uribe has already pleaded guilty.

Also a few days ago:
Menendez files as independent candidate in New Jersey Senate race
His decision to file as an independent, first reported by The New Jersey Globe, comes the day before a New Jersey primary in which three Democrats and four Republicans are vying for their parties’ nominations for the seat he currently holds.
. . .

His presence in the race could make the Senate contest in New Jersey more unpredictable, with control of the chamber hanging in the balance. Democrats hold a narrow majority but face a difficult election map this fall.
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Here's who won their respective primaries:
Kim, Bashaw win New Jersey primaries for Senate seat held by embattled Menendez

Democratic Rep. Andy Kim won his party’s nomination for a U.S. Senate seat Tuesday in New Jersey, setting up a general election contest against wealthy hotel operator Curtis Bashaw, who defeated a Trump-backed candidate for the Republican nomination.

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez will also be on the ballot after declaring his intention to run as an independent on Monday in the midst of a federal corruption trial. The turmoil surrounding the embattled senator has created the possibility of a headache for Democrats in a state where they haven’t lost an election for Senate since 1972.

Kim, a three-term congressman who launched his campaign after charges against Menendez were announced last year, rose to the top in the state’s dominant political party over a relatively short period. A former Obama administration national security official, he defeated an incumbent Republican in a 2018 House race and won a court ruling this year that toppled a unique-to-New Jersey system widely viewed as giving political bosses influence on who wins primaries.
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Will Menendez be a spoiler for Democrats, or irrelevant? I can't imagine why people would still support him, especially if he is convicted, but he is the incumbent with name recognition and that's usually worth something.
 
It is indeed hard to imagine why voters would continue to support a corrupt felon, but....oh well. Graft and stupidity are equal opportunity employers. Maybe he can share a cell with Mr. Trump and they can enjoy gourmet get-togethers and share complaints about weaponized justice like the Bosnian war criminals.
 
www.bbc.com

Ex-US Senator Bob Menendez sentenced to 11 years in prison

Bob Menendez was convicted last year of accepting bribes, including gold bars and a luxury car, from foreign governments.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com

Sentence decided. 11 years. I wonder when he needs to report to prison? The story does say he plans to appeal, but typically that doesn't mean you can avoid starting to serve your sentence until all possible appeals are exhausted.

Something I just learned:

Menendez's son, Rob Menendez, a Democratic congressman, and his daughter, MSNBC anchor Alicia Menendez, were seated in court behind their father.
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When is he going to be pardoned? It isn't like Egypt did not give lots of money to Trump as well, that was just all apparently legal. Because bribing a president is not a crime.
 
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