Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was indicted this week on bribery charges — and the story came down media-ready full of images like gold bars found at the Senator’s house and stacks of cash, not to mention alleged searches on his computer inquiring about how much a kilo of gold was worth.
Menendez made plans immediately to give up his powerful position as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee due to a congressional rule requiring him to step down under the current circumstances.
But Menendez has not volunteered to give up his Senate seat — indeed he has vowed adamantly to keep it despite calls from fellow Democrat and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy for Menendez to resign, the idea being that the allegations (even without a conviction) compromise the Senator and cast too much doubt on his integrity for him to remain effective on the job.
Menendez’s answer? “I remain focused on continuing this important work and will not be distracted by baseless allegations,” Menendez said in a statement. Claiming prosecutors have misrepresented the facts, Menendez said that “prosecutors did that the last time and look what a trial demonstrates.”
“Last time” was in 2015 when Menendez was also indicted on bribery charges he denied, saying that what had transpired was above board and that favors done were the result of strong relationships, not of bribery or quid pro quo corruption.
The defense was effective and two years later Menendez’s trial resulted in a hung jury, the federal corruption case ending in a mistrial. That’s what Menendez means now when he says “look what a trial demonstrates.” This time, as last, he has a right to one.
Menendez’s lawyer in the earlier case was white collar criminal law specialist Abbe Lowell. It now looks as if Lowell will handle the new case too. Lowell is also currently representing another famous name in political circles, Hunter Biden. Below, Lowell speaks after the Menendez mistrial.
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance reminded readers this morning that in the Menendez bribery case in 2017 “the Judge dismissed seven of the 18 charges in the indictment, and DOJ chose not to retry the remainder.”
“I think it sends a powerful message to the government,” Mendez said at the time, “if, after years of preparation of this case, if after years of prosecuting, if after hundreds of agents, millions of taxpayer dollars, the result is that ten of the twelve jurors simply said that they did not believe any of the charges.”
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