Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., is under federal criminal investigation … again. The voters of New Jersey reelected Menendez despite his accepting lavish gifts from a businessman who was later convicted of fraud. Menendez was also charged but the case was dismissed after a jury hung on the verdict. As I noted at the time of the trial, Menendez was a “juror” in a trial that I handled in the Senate and he maintained a position completely at odds with his own later defense.
In the prior case against the Senator, prosecutors accused Menendez of accepting close to $1 million in contributions and lavish gifts in exchange for political favors. The trial ended with a hung jury and the charges were dismissed in 2018.
That history did not prevent the Democrats making Menendez the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
ABC and other outlets have confirmed the new investigation. Reports indicated that the investigation raised similar allegations to the 2018 case.
In 2018, I noted that the most poignant and powerful case against Menendez was made in his own words.
It was 2010, and Menendez was voting against my client federal Judge Thomas Porteous in Porteous’s impeachment trial.
The charges were laid out plainly before U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.):
“… engag[ing] in a corrupt relationship [and] as part of this corrupt relationship … solicit[ation] and accept[ance] of numerous things of value, including meals, trips, home repairs, and car repairs, for his personal use and benefit while at the same time taking official actions that benefitted [his friend].”
Menendez was resolute. He stood up in front of his colleagues and declared that receiving gifts ranging from free meals to wedding gifts was, plain and simple, corruption.
Notably, while many of his colleagues voted “not guilty” on Dec. 8, 2010, to Count Two (which focused on the gifts and travel benefits) against Judge Porteous, Menendez did not. He voted “guilty” on that and all of the other counts.
Menendez ultimately escaped conviction based on the very arguments that he rejected when another man stood accused in the well of the U.S. Senate. In his own trial, he called a couple dozen witnesses, including Cory Booker, New Jersey’s junior Democratic U.S. senator, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who spoke to his good character.
The one witness who did not appear was Menendez himself.
Is Turley saying a federal judge lie Porteus should be held to the same standard as a Senator is accepting gifts with people with interests before them?
I would think the standards are different. Senators raise funds all the time from people who have matters before the legislature. A federal judge (who does not run for office and has no need for campaign funds) does not. The code of judicial conduct says a lot of things that are perfectly allowed for Senators to do.
Surprised a law professor like Turley does not know that.
What surprises me is Professor Turley’s innuendo about Menendez not testifying at his trial. I think I have seen the Professor mention many times on here that cannot be used against the defendant
Professor Turley is not addressing his comment/innuendo to a jury charged with adjudication.
He also is referring to a prior case long gone, not the current matter.
“Senators raise funds all the time from people who have matters before the legislature.”
There is a difference between campaign donations (which are reported) and off-the-record private gifts/benefits/perqs or bribes.
Senate Rule 35 (the Gifts Rule) is a rule of prohibition. Specifically, Senate Rule 35.1(a)(1) states that “no Member, officer, or employee shall knowingly accept a gift except as provided by the rule.”
See, for example, Senate Rule 35.1(c)(7):
“Benefits Resulting from Outside Activities
A [Senate] Member, officer, or employee may accept food, refreshments, lodging, and other benefits resulting from their outside business or employment activities (or other outside activities that are not connected to their duties as an officeholder),… if such benefits have not been offered or enhanced because of their official position and are customarily provided to others in similar circumstances.”
As for federal judges:
Ҥ 620.35 Acceptance of Gifts by a Judicial Officer or Employee; Exceptions
(a) A judicial officer or employee is not permitted to accept a gift from anyone
who is seeking official action from or doing business with the court or other
entity served by the judicial officer or employee, or from any other person
whose interests may be substantially affected by the performance or
nonperformance of the judicial officer’s or employee’s official duties.”
And so what was your point, again?
“There is a difference between campaign donations (which are reported) and off-the-record private gifts/benefits/perqs or bribes.”
You either are unaware of Citizen’s United or don’t know the meaning of anonymous.
Enigma: Actually, I wrote a summary/synopsis of the Citizens United case which was published in both law school text and public reference books. I wrote for those publishers as a side gig for 20 years, concurrent with my full-time practice in a large metropolitan firm. I’ll let you save face, perhaps you were referring to a different case?
Perhaps this will help you: https://www.fec.gov/updates/individual-contributions-federal-candidates-and-committees/
Thanks anyway.
Lin, I was referring to anonymous contributions from corporations who according to Citizen’s United are people too. Did I get any of that wrong?
“In his own trial, he called ….Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)… spoke to his good character.”
If I were on his jury I would have convicted him just based on that.
There seems to be strong bi-partisan support for corruption .. . and war.
*and little else.
The dems are in lockstep in their support for war and corruption. As are the swamp pubs.
However, there is a strong contingent of pubs that want nothing to do with either of those – they’re easy to spot, the media hounds them relentlessly.
I don’t know the particular charges here as they are not reported. But Turley takes issue with the Democrats making him chair of a committee when he has not been convicted of a crime; a court did not convict him the last time. I don’t know what he thinks Democrats should do to someone who has been elected by their state and not convicted by the courts. Maybe he will be convicted some day but for now he seems fine.
But there is a lot of corruption in Congress that should be outlawed. The Supreme Court unfortunately made a lot of politicians doing political favors for your financial supporters legal, but such is our Supreme Court these days. They did it in reversing the conviction of of a Republican, former Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia, but that holding applies to Democrats as well.
Has Majory Taylor Green been convicted of anything? Democrats won’t even allow her on a committee, much less chair one, hypocrite. If it weren’t for double standards leftists like you would have no standards at all.
She broke house rules and since the house with a democratic majority they CAN remove her from the committee if they want to. Their rules and she broke them.
It’s going to be interesting when in about two months, no House Democrat is allowed on any committee
From the sounds of this, it doesn’t seem that Sen. Bob Menendez has much integrity, in fact it sounds like he is a brazen hypocrite which would be a big surprise coming from a 21st century Democrat.
That said, I think I’ll wait to see how the case plays out before I rush to judgement.
Let’s not forget the credible allegations that Menendez enjoyed sexual services from underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. “The äling [filing] discloses circumstantial information indirectly linking Menendez to prostitutes. The prosecutors noted eyewitness testimony that Melgen, 61, close [sic] attended a party that included prostitutes, and that he åew [flew] ‘numerous young women’ to the Dominican Republic on his private jet. . . . Some of the young women who received substantial sums of money from defendant Melgen were in the same place as defendant Menendez at the same times,’ the government notes. . . . Prosecutors say that when the allegations about hookers surfaced, Menendez lied, making the ‘demonstrably false’ claim that he’d only flown on Melgen’s plane three times.” https://www.baltimoresun.com/sd-me-menendez-case-20171012-story.html
Corruption in NJ??? Say it isn’t so!!! In other news, water is wet, the sky is blue, and Starbucks coffee tastes like burnt soot.
Corruption in the Democrat Party? I’m shocked!!
He’s a Trump copycat. Voters voted for a corrupt Trump, so no surprise in Mr, Bob’s situation.
TDS much?? I suggest you seek help. Trump on the brain, when every comment, no matter what the subject always has you thinking about Trump.
Kill 2 birds with 1 stone in NJ
Investigate both Sen. Bob Menendez & Sen. Cory Booker, aka “Spartacus” for corruption activities.
Jonathan: I suppose Bob Menendez is a GOP gift that keeps on giving. Accused again of accepting lavish gifts from businessmen. Couldn’t be your motivation for this column is that the midterms are just around the corner and Menendez is up for re-election? If I were a cynical person I would think you are just another political hack and you want to hurt the Dems chances of holding on to the Senate. But you are a respected academic so you wouldn’t do that, would you? You are above all that dirty politics aren’t you?
So permit me to address another issue. Some on this blog have strenuously objected to me calling Donald Trump an antisemite. They point to the fact that Trump’s son-in-law is Jewish, Jews served in his administration and Trump is a big supporter of Israel. So how could Trump be accused of being antisemitic? So let me try to further explain my point. There are many forms of antisemitism. The most overt is the kind we heard from neo-Nazis in Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us!”. Then there are the more subtle forms. Jacques Berlinerbau, professor of Jewish civilization at Georgetown, explains these in a column on MSNBC (10/25/20220).
Berlinerbau points out that Trump’s version of antisemitism is more nuanced. It’s not based on the traditional tropes that Jews murdered Christ or Jews have “inferior blood”–or are either “marauding communists or rapacious capitalists”. Berlinerbau thinks “Trump’s anger is based on the fact that the overwhelming majority of Jews did not cast their ballots for Trump”. According to Berlinerbau Trump is mad at the “Jewish majority for not sticking with the Jewish minority who venerates Trump”. Berlinerbau concludes his piece with the following: “What separates the good from the bad Jews is worship of Trump–and given the idol question, that’s what makes this strain of antisemitism so volatile and dangerous”.
So Trump has revived the antisemitic trope that there are “good” Jews and “bad” Jews. The Jews that vote for him are “good” and the one’s that don’t are “disloyal”. “Disloyalty” is an old antisemitic trope Hitler used in the 1930s. Trump, like Hitler, is a gifted practitioner of the art of divide and rule and his use of antisemitism is part of that strategy. That’s the part that MAGA supporters ignore.
Generally the difference between fiction and non-fiction is that latter includes facts. Using this test, your post would be fiction.
Dennis McIntyre, Good god, what a stretch that was! LOL Extrapolating, using your (il)logic, anyone who ever uttered any literal words that Hitler spoke, can be deemed an antisemite. Trump lives inside your head rent free. He owns you!
Toostiebug: Tootsie, it appears Trump has lived in your head for too long. So answer this simple Q so we understand where you are coming from. It’s a kind of litmus test for MAGA supporters. Do you accept Trump’s claim the 2020 election was “stolen” from him? That will tell us who owns whom.
Give it a rest and get help immediately. It is infecting your mind. It seems like you are mad that he doesn’t want to date you.
This comment by Dennis McIntyre illustrates the peculiar difference in the way charges of race hatred are utilized. It is perfectly permissable, even praisworthy, in schools and media, to demonize “white people” (a term which obviously refers to Christian European settlers and their descendants, except perhaps those with advanced college degrees) and loudly accuse them of vile crimes, e.g.: the virtual invention of slavery; the denial of voting rights to blacks; keeping “people of color” from succeeding in the USA and elsewhere; the theft of resources from the third world; fomenting of hatred of “people of color”; maintenance of a system of racial superiority through seemingly innocent practices such as test scores; and selfishly destroying the environment. This drumbeat of race hatred of white Americans is ceaseless. Yet the Leftists who carry on this vilification are never accused of “racism” thmselves, even though they are obviously engaged in a campaign of race hatred Indeed they are not even accused of racism for discriminating against asian students in gaining admission to prestigious colleges. So, we have a situation where Leftists ceaselessly apply the terms “racism” and “anti-semitism” to even remarks which are relatively benign, such as those of Trump, while enjoying immunity from such charges themselves.
“According to Berlinerbau . . .”
In other words, an ad hominem attack, muddied to appear deep.
Menendez is under investigation again! Is that like getting charged in the past and getting out with no bail and going out and doing the same thing again. I think I have heard of this before. Oh, now I remember. Something like this seems to happen in areas in New York and California where there is not bail and criminals continue to commit their specialty crimes over and over again while awaiting trial. Has it now spread to New Jersey? Oh the shame of this, the tears for humanity. Another Dim bites the dust (maybe, I’ll believe it when I see it)
>”I’ll believe it when I see it”
Don’t hold your breath. .. can’t recall any ‘Dims’ (or anybody else) biting the dust.
Lord, I deplore ‘partisan’ politics. Won’t tolerate it. And, beyond the shocking revelation(s) Sen. Menendez has been gambling in Atlantic City (probably at the Taj), again, this has the distinct aroma of partisan politics.
Partisan politics is the enemy. .. they’ve made world Peace itself is a ‘Putin talking point.’
*thought this a hoot and a holler .. .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVsIyPc_h9Y
Turley is being disingenuous again. Turley claims in the title of his column that Sen, Menendez is being investigated for corruption. That is not true. The nature of the investigation has NOT been revealed and it may involve something else.
Turley should at least stick to standard journalistic protocol when making claims that have not been verified.
According to to the original source of the reporting. The investigation may involve something similar to his past corruption investigation but it is NOT confirmed.
What Turley leaves out is the fact that trying to convict him again under corruption charges may be much more difficult due to the Supreme Court’s decision in McDonell v. United States which significantly narrowed the criteria for charging someone on corruption.
“ A unanimous Supreme Court has overturned the corruption convictions of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, ruling that federal prosecutors relied on a “boundless” definition of the kinds of acts that could lead politicians to face criminal charges.
The decision from the eight-justice court could make it tougher for prosecutors to prove corruption cases against politicians in cases where there is no proof of an explicit agreement linking a campaign donation or gift to a contract, grant or vote.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/supreme-court-overturns-bob-mcdonnells-corruption-convictions-224833
This is the same ruling that makes charging Hunter Biden or president Joe Biden with influence peddling and corruption much more difficult or nearly impossible. Thanks to the conservatives in the Supreme Court including the Chief Justice.
Good point. It could also be about:
1. an illegal Peruvian immigrant, registered sex offender, and former unpaid intern, or
2. several trips via private plane to the Dominican Republic for rendezvous with underage prostitutes, or
3. his disgusting association with scumbag and longtime friend, pedophile, mega-donor, and disgraced medicare fraudster Sal Melgen, or
4. Kickbacks from the Iran ‘planes full of cash’ debacle fronted by John Kerry, or
That’s just scratching the surface. The degerate Senator is a disgrace to himself, his constituents, the nation, and mankind.
2015 DOJ said Menendez’s trips to the Dominican Republic and underage prostitutes were corroborated and specific.
Reuters
last time Menendez wouldn’t play ball on IRAN…they indicted him for his actual crimes…which for democrats normally doesn’t happen!
Well he isn’t playing ball on Venezuelan Illegal…so they are re-indicting him.
Democrats REQUIRE submission!
If you vote Democrat…you are EVIL!
There is a similar article in the NY Post this morning questioning the rather illogical trend of democrat voters voting against their own best interests: https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/how-long-will-democratic-voters-continue-to-allow-themselves-to-be-treated-like-fools/? One needs wonder just what is in that koolaid that they drink.
well blacks have voted for democrats in their inner cities since the 1960’s…for failed plantations. So the answer is…A LONG TIME
Yes!
Why do they?
Zeldin: “DAs that let violent criminals out on the street to roam free … This governor still has not talked about locking people up committing any crimes.”
Hochul: “I don’t know why that’s so important to you.”
Are you kidding me?
In Texas, we call them “yellow dog democrats.” Democrats of that type would vote for a yellow dog if he or she had a D after the name on the ballot. Other states are infected with them as well. New Jersey has Menendez and now Pennsylvania is about to have Fetterman. Some early absentee voters interviewed this morning were hand-wringing over their vote for Fetterman as if they would not have voted for him if they had just seen his debate performance. Give me a break. The man was a classic, woke loser and had the personal and political record to prove it. The truth is these people would have voted for him anyway because that is what yellow dogs do.
When I lived in New Jersey, Hudson County specifically, there was a ‘campaign style’ button many of us Hudson County residents wore with a perverse sense of ‘pride.’ It read: Hudson County–the nation’s most corrupt.
Menendez is a Hudson County guy — always has been.
Turley, why do you remain a Democrat?
Serious question, why do you believe Turley is a Democrat? I looked before asking and can find no such claim. He has said he didn’t vote for Trump which doesn’t make him a Democrat. His bio makes no reference. Certainly not based on his views the last several years.
Turley seems to have a vendetta against Menendez. Ironic. Turley, in my opinion, is a man of character who is a firm defender of the Bill of Rights but now infers that Menendez’s exercise of his 5th Amendment is evidence of his guilt.
I am a Democrat. Menendez is my senator. I think he should be in jail. But I agree with the commenter who asks why Turley remains a Democrat (if he does).. He certainly focuses all of his attention on the peccadillos of Democrats.
RDKAY objects, “He [JT] certainly focuses all of his attention on the peccadillos of Democrats.”
What can I say? The Democrats are a target-rich environment.
RDKAY,
Like many traditional Democrats, I think the professor is trying to point out the crazy and corruption that has infected the party.
I think he, and many traditional Democrats should pull a Tulsi Gabbard, and leave. Not necessarily join the GOP, but at least Independent.
“I keep saying to the liberals: you know what, if what you’re doing sounds like an ‘Onion’ headline…stop,”
-Bill Maher
I agree.
Thank you Diogenes.
I take that as quite a compliment coming from you.
Imagine having access and being able to act on insider trading legally, yet still selling-out your constituents’ interests for a few more dollars.
Degenerate scum.
They must need him to vote as required again. That is how they keep hom i;line.
11 days https://thehill.com/latino/3686990-menendez-comes-out-against-bidens-venezuelan-immigration-plan/