Booker and maybe Murphy are surprises. Gillibrand is an opportunist. If Menendez's old friends step up, his chances might be cooked for censure talks. But this isn't like "Me Too". This is their bread and butter.
How to Oust Menendez: Follow The Agnew Precedent Despite the increased calls for his resignation, Menendez seems determined to hold onto his seat. Menendez’s prime goal, however, has to be avoiding a conviction that would send him to prison. Despite the Supreme Court’s 2016 ruling in McDonnell v. United States that bribery must be explicit and not just political favor-trading, Menendez’s solicitation of bribes and receipt of various forms of loot were so flagrant that he cannot be confident of acquittal. Unless New Jersey Democrats bungle things by splitting the field, he will probably lose his seat in next year’s Democratic primary in any case. There is one way to get him to resign, a la the Agnew precedent, set in 1973. Agnew struck a deal with prosecutors that trades resignation for a plea bargain that avoids jail time. Investigators had hard evidence that he had received bribes in exchange for favorable treatment in the awarding of state and local government contracts. Amazingly, Agnew was still receiving envelopes of cash from Maryland business executives in the vice president’s suite in the Old Executive Office Building. Agnew appealed to Nixon and congressional Republican leaders for help, to little avail. Nixon had his own problems, namely Watergate, and wasn’t going to war to save his vice president. Instead, the GOP establishment quickly distanced itself from Agnew. The investigation had the full support of Attorney General Elliot Richardson. Its lead investigator, U.S. Attorney George Beall, was from a well-known Republican family and his brother, Glenn Beall Jr., served in the U.S. Senate. The lack of support left Agnew boxed in as key witnesses made their own deals with prosecutors and testified against him. From there, the walls closed in quickly — even as Agnew furiously and publicly fought back. Just days before he accepted the plea deal, Agnew rallied his defenders at a meeting of the National Federation of Republican Women in Los Angeles. He accused the press and the investigators of working together to turn his case into a “kangaroo trial in the media.” Playing victim, Agnew lamented how he was forced to endure the “undefined, unclear and unattributed accusations” leaked by Justice Department hacks whose behavior had been “unprofessional, malicious and outrageous.” It was, he added, clear that “they are trying to destroy me politically through abuse of the criminal justice system.” The audience roared its support as the women waved their scarves and signs and “stood on tables to cheer.” Less than two weeks after his rousing Los Angeles appearance, Agnew resigned and accepted the plea deal under which he’d plead nolo contendere to one count of tax evasion and accept a $10,000 fine and three years of probation in return for no further prosecution.
Thats because republicans know if they call for Menendez to step down, they'll be called out for being the hypocrites they are and everyone will demand they also speak out against Santos, Trump, Alito, Thomas, etc.
In the absence of any real point, commodores resorts to babylon bee. Since he can't defend the maga republicans for reneging on the earlier bipartisan agreement and shutting down the government. And he can't defend the embarrassing disaster by the maga republicans in trying to impeach hunter biden. And he can't defend the embarrassing maga presidential debate. And he can't defend the insane utterances of his maga presidential candidate. And he can't defend the fact that over half of the Democrats in the senate have called for menendez to step down, while only one republican senatorhas (and as far from a maga republican). So... babylon bee...
Gold Bars found in Sen. Bob Menendez's New Jersey home linked to 2013 robbery NJ businessman Fred Daibes, a co-defendant in Sen. Bob Menendez's previous federal bribery case, reported 22 gold bars stolen in 2013. Four of them were found in Menendez's home. Photos of the alleged gold bars found in Menendez's Clifton, New Jersey, home were included this year in a bribery indictment against him and four co-defendants. Now, a New York investigation revealed Monday that serial numbers of the four gold bars in the bribery indictment appear to be exact matches to four of the 22 gold bars that businessman Fred Daibes reported as stolen in 2013.
And yet, Democratic voters aren't trying to minimize or excuse it. He isn't leading in the primary in NJ. Even with the normal status of being the incumbent, he polls at less than 5%. If only Republican voters cared enough to not vote for candidates that ostensibly commit crimes.
This would be shocking if it was, say, the Senior Senator from Montana...but stolen gold bars in a NJ politician's closet just doesn't surprise me much. Throw him in jail. He can play pickleball with Trump.
Nah, Bob won reelection after his mistrial. There's no way he could have survived the primaries if DNC leadership stood against him or there was an Al Frankesque campaign by opportunists like Gillibrand shaming him into retiring. Maybe he threatened to run as independent or maybe DNC didn't care and were comfy with his ass grooves on committee chairs? Who knows because it never got that far out in the open when prominent senators welcomed him with open arms and pretty much pronounced it was water under the bridge and "everyone" was ready to move on. Yeah "both sides" play the game and outrage is not in short supply. It's just that issues like endemic corruption is easily swept under the carpet by laying low during its 15 mins of airtime while some buffoon grabs attention by saying hurtful or "unwise" things. People love keeping track of the scoreboard, but managing the clock is how these scumbags collectively win while the crowd is bamboozled in plain sight.
Democratic Seanators have already called on him to resign. He was given a second chance, previously. He blew it. Now both Democratic Senators and voters have had enough. That's in sharp contrast to the Republican party.
menendez should be removed from office. This is the reason I roll my eyes when people would defend keeping santos in office, saying its should be up to the voters to decide. Voters can't always be trusted unfortunately. Heck... who is the leading candidate in the republican primary?
Eh, voters get what they deserve. New Jersey deserves a criminal senator because they were too damned stupid to vote otherwise. But everyone outside of New Jersey are also impacted by him, and they don't deserve it because they didn't vote for him. That's why there is a separate process in the Senate for removing members. Maybe he's good enough for New Jerseyans, but not for the rest of us so we should be using our tools to be rid of him. And I can appreciate Senators' reticence towards perhaps jumping the gun and kicking someone frivolously accused. But, you don't need to wait for a conviction either -- that's erring too far in the opposite direction. I like the Santos model just fine: have an ethics committee investigate and then you can kick on the strength of their report.
Bob Menendez Took Bribes to Help Qatar and Egypt, US Says Developer Fred Daibes sought help as he pursued Qatari money Revised charges detail claims related to Qatar for first time U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez introduced a member of the Qatari royal family and principal in a company with ties to the government of Qatar to a New Jersey businessman before the company invested millions of dollars in the businessman's real estate project, a rewritten indictment alleged Tuesday. The latest version of the indictment against the Democrat in Manhattan federal court did not identify the member of the Qatari royal family, but it said the individual was a principal of the Qatari Investment Co. The indictment said the Qatari investor then considered and negotiated a multimillion-dollar investment in the real estate project planned by Fred Daibes, one of three businessmen charged in the indictment along with the senator and his wife. All of them have pleaded not guilty.
They finally got him with the lowest of low Gold bars for proving corruption by "unofficial acts." Bitcoin solves this...
Wow a politicized Manhattan jury strikes again. It's impossible to get a fair trial in that town. Have any of those jurors ever even seen a gold bar? I bet some of them watched the 2022 World Cup in Qatar so clearly they were biased against Qatari influence.
Good, now throw his ass in prison.............talking to the press afterwards, he still says he didnt do anything wrong, STFU and resign. See maga heads, when one of your own is a criminal, you dont want them in your party, whereas maga puts them on a pedastal, they dont care what the crime is........maga folks can relate to the criminal better than anyone because it's always someone else's fault
