Senator 'Gold Bar Bob' Menendez: 9 Terms in Congress, 16 convictions

My least favorite corrupt public official was elected to six terms in the House (1993 to 2005) and three in the Senate (2006 to 2018), thirty years in all. Justice finally caught up with him today, which was in spite of his inspired defense that he was only doing his job when he traded official actions for cash, gold, and other gratuities. 

Sadly, he's probably sincere in that claim, and I bet a lot of his congressional colleagues think the same thing. 

Maybe justice will get around to those others someday. For today, a jury found Menendez guilty of all 16 counts in his indictment. He'll appeal, of course. 

Meanwhile, we'll see how hard the Senate pushes for his expulsion, which is the only way for it to be rid of him because he'll never resign. He's even running for reelection as an Independent!

If the voters of New Jersey can spare Bob for a few years, the Bureau of Prisons would like to have a talk.

Constant Carnivore Caught in Corrupt Conversation (Menendez Does Morton's 250 Nights a Year)

Politico has a nice story today about how the FBI first tumbled to Senator Menendez's latest corrupt doings while conducting surveillance on an unassuming expense account dinner in Washington DC. 

Read it here: The steakhouse stakeout that entangled Bob Menendez.

That evening, two FBI investigators, posing as a husband and wife, were inside the steakhouse eavesdropping on a trio of Egyptian men seated at a table, including one who was the subject of their investigation.

Then Menendez and his now-wife, Nadine, joined the men. And the senator — who infamously goes to Morton’s much of the time he’s in D.C. and charges meals to his political action committee — ended up in the middle of the steakhouse stake out.

Lots of dramatic details there that measure up to any good cops-n'-robbers movie.

It’s unclear who investigators were there to watch. But two of the investigators testified that their target was someone who came in from New York and arrived at the steakhouse in a car with Washington, D.C., diplomatic plates. The FBI couple inside were equipped with a cover story and a concealed video camera that took silent footage. Another investigator was in a van with cameras outside the steakhouse. Another, who did not testify Tuesday, had posed as an Uber driver.

Get that. Just like in every movie stake-out you've ever seen, there was some unlucky agent who had to sit outside in a van while the FBI's pretend couple wined and dined inside!

And for you ladies, please be aware that you might not be free of FBI surveillance even when in the ladies room.

One of the FBI investigators, Terrie Williams-Thompson, who posed as the wife and at one point got up to follow Nadine Menendez to the bathroom, testified that the men did most of the talking during the dinner. Silent video footage shows Menendez pouring wine and Helmy smoking at the table, which is on the Morton’s patio, where smoking is allowed.

Thank God the FBI didn't catch any of those characters smoking inside the restaurant. They're in enough trouble as it is. 

Speaking in Menendez's defense, his mouthpiece told the judge that Menendez was doing nothing that night that he doesn't do most nights.

Defense attorneys portrayed the meeting as an innocent one at Menendez’s regular spot — not a shady meeting of criminal co-conspirators. Adam Fee, Menendez’s attorney, told the judge overseeing the case that when the senator is in D.C., he probably eats “at that same restaurant at that same table 250 nights a year.”

Fee told the judge, “you can find Senator Menendez having the same dinner with diplomats and other government officials almost every night of the workweek at Morton's in Washington, D.C.”

Just as I suspected!

Will the Constitution Save Sen. Menendez From Prosecution? 'Speech and Debate' Done for Profit

“So, on the one hand, legislative acts that are clearly official acts cannot be talked about directly; on the other, actions that are not legislative acts [like blatant corruption] may not be deemed significant or substantial enough to [be] official acts.” https://t.co/rz5Ngrfjh9

— TSB (@TweetingTSB) May 23, 2024

 

My least favorite corrupt public official might just wriggle off the hook of those 16 charges he's facing, thanks to the immunity that Senators have concerning 'speech and debate.'

It's in Article I, Section 6, Clause 1: "Senators and Representatives ... shall in all cases except Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace be privileged from Arrest ... for any Speech or Debate in either house."

Apparently, that is broad enough to cover any official communication, including the ones Menendez had about, for instance, putting and releasing holds on appropriations to Egypt. Delivering those appropriations was one of the ways Menendez earned his gold bars and six-figure cash, but the speech and debate clause severely hampers his prosecutors from presenting their case to the jury. 

Well, well, well. Really, what were the Founding Fathers thinking in Philadelphia when they ratified that? 

A Gentleman Never Passes the Blame to His Wife, But Senator Menendez Did

My least favorite corrupt public official is using a bold strategy in an attempt to save his ass from 16 charges of bribery, acting as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice, and extortion. To wit, he blames everything on his wife.

Read about the trial's first day here: Bob ‘Gold Bars’ Menendez throws wife under the bus claiming she hid bribes in opening statements at trial:

In a courtroom in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday, defense lawyer Avi Weitzman told the jury that the senator knew nothing of the gold bars and cash, which had been recovered from his New Jersey home by FBI agents in June 2022.

Mr. Weitzman argued that it was Nadine Menendez who accepted the lavish bribes, hid them from her husband and then served as a messenger between the senator, his co-defendants and Egyptian officials.

These are the same gold bars and cash that were stashed in places far from Menendez's control, such as inside the pockets of his clothes hanging in his closets. 

Oh, she's fiendishly clever alright. I can't imagine how she tricked Menendez into doing things in his official capacity that advanced the financial interests of his co-defendants without his ever catching on. 

Will this trickster wife accusation work? Will this New Jersey jury hang up the way the last one did?

More to come.    

  

'Gold Bar Bob' Menendez Switches Lawyers, Plus a Co-Defendant Eats Some Cheese

Senator Robert Menendez's legal troubles increase. From the WaPo:

Now The Post can disclose that one of Daibes’ former business partners, who was also a Menendez donor, has been cooperating with Manhattan prosecutors since February 2022, four months before the raid.

Please read the whole article, since it describes a New Jersey nest of organized crime that rivals The Sopranos. 

Given today's news about a rat, my least favorite corrupt public official might well be channeling Paulie Walnuts: “How much more betrayal can I take?”

 

Senator Menendez Takes Corruption to a New Level

(Photo from the indictment)

It's all fun and games with this public corruption stuff so long as it stays with gold bars and sweetheart deals for halal meat imports, but Menendez crossed the line when he compromised the security of official personnel overseas. 

See this section of the Justice Department indictment of my least-favorite corrupt public official (here):

As part of the scheme, MENENDEZ provided sensitive, non-public U.S. government information to Egyptian officials and otherwise took steps to secretly aid the Government of Egypt. For example, in or about May 2018, MENENDEZ provided Egyptian officials with non-public information regarding the number and nationality of persons serving at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. Although this information was not classified, it was deemed highly sensitive because it could pose significant operational security concerns if disclosed to a foreign government or made public. Without telling his professional staff or the State Department that he was doing so, on or about May 7, 2018, MENENDEZ texted that sensitive, non-public embassy information to his then-girlfriend NADINE MENENDEZ, who forwarded the message to HANA, who forwarded it to an Egyptian government official. Later that same month, MENENDEZ ghost-wrote a letter on behalf of Egypt to other U.S. Senators advocating for them to release a hold on $300 million in aid to Egypt. MENENDEZ sent this ghost-written letter to NADINE MENENDEZ, who forwarded it to HANA, who sent it to Egyptian officials.

Mind you, Menendez was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he sent that information to the Egyptian government. He had previously abused that position to badger an ambassador into reversing a consular officer's refusal of visas to the girlfriends of Menendez's business partner and biggest financial contributor, but hey, that's just boys being boys, amiright? 

Compromising the security of embassy employees is, well, what's another word for traitorous?

Senator Menendez is 'Justice-Involved' Again and Loving It

(Imagine this in Shirley Bassey's voice)

Old Swinger,

He's the man, the man with the "bribe me" touch,

a grifter's touch,

Such a U.S. Code 18 swinger,

Beckons you to forget his conflicts of 'in'trst,

and don't convict!

I'll say this for my least-favorite corrupt public official: his many money-grubbing schemes and close escapes from the law do make for colorful reading. 

The New York Post has the latest installment here, in a story that strings together a fortune in gold bars, a New Jersey IHOP, a proposal in front of the Taj Mahal, a deadlocked jury, an imprisoned Medicare swindler, the overturning of a consular officer's denial of visas for a political contributor's personal 36DD immigrant program, and a front company set up by a politician's wife who was facing foreclosure before becoming suddenly and inexplicably rich. 

I mean, it's all so ludicrous that you could almost be tempted to give the crook a pass in return for his giving us so much humor. But then, you remember he's a U.S. Senator and, really, it's not a laughing matter. 

NJ Senator Menendez is 'Justice-Involved' Again

According to NBC News today, my least favorite elected offical, New Jersey's Senator Menendez, is under federal investigation again, for public corruption, again. 

Campaign finance records show Menendez's campaign has spent about $200,000 to pay two law firms as well as a document search company. 

Sources familiar with the matter have previously said that Menendez has been under criminal investigation in connection with a Weehawken meat company, IS EG Halal, that won an exclusive contract with the government of Egypt. Several sources have said owners of that company have given expensive gifts to the senator’s wife in the past. 

Investigators have sent out dozens of subpoenas, with sources familiar with the matter saying they are looking into whether Menendez used his position as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee – which oversees $2 billion in aid to Egypt – to help the New Jersey company get the exclusive contract.

The last time the Justice Department prosecuted him he escaped justice due to a deadlocked jury. Maybe he'll be that lucky again.

Swaggerin' Mike Struts Over Long-Delayed Publication of OIG Report Requested by House Democrats

SecState Pompeo has something to dance about. He wants you to know that the OIG confirms no wrongdoing in emergency arms sale to counter Iran, and he's doing a victory lap today.  

 

In brief, back in May 2019, President Trump declared an emergency that permitted the USG to sell arms to Saudi Arabia and other partners in the region without going through Congress. As the SecState noted in his press release today, that emergency authority is explicit in the law and has been exercised by five of the last seven Presidents. Yes, even Jimmy Carter. 

As of yesterday, we found out that the OIG had determined: “[T]he Secretary’s May 2019 use of emergency authorities was executed in accordance with the requirements of Section 36 of AECA ... the Emergency Certification Was Properly Executed ... and the documentation complied with the requirements outlined in the AECA.”  

What's more, "The OIG briefed these key findings to the Department in November 2019 and March 2020 under former Inspector General Steve Linick, including the finding that the OIG found no wrongdoing. The Acting Inspector General recused himself from this review. It is unclear why the OIG required an additional 10 months to finalize the report since its key conclusions were briefed to the Department." 

Unclear? Oh, don't be coy. Tell us what you really think. 

"In June 2019, every Democratic Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee signed a letter directing the OIG to embark on this legal review, despite the fact that the Secretary exercised a specific authority granted to the Executive Branch by Congress in law ... Now that the OIG has completed its work, we hope these Members and media outlets who echoed their baseless accusations will publicly accept the findings of the report they requested from the OIG and immediately retract their statements from the past year." The press release cites a couple such statements by HFAC Chairman Engel and Ranking Member Menendez. 

Look at that timeline. Five months after the HFAC Democratic members requested that State OIG investigate this matter, the OIG reported its negative conclusions internally. After a further four months it reiterated that internal report, but still did not publish a final report, which would have publicly exonerated the SecState. 

Is it just my imagination, or is 2020 an election year? 

The Inspector General who was in charge during that slow crawl, Mr. Linick, was removed from office in May, 2020. A mere (?) three months after that, the report was finally published.

The Senator Got the Tub, But the Taxpayers Got Soaked

Limestone tub at the Seasons Hotel, George V, Paris

When Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) wanted to book three nights in a $1,536.96 a night Paris hotel suite that featured a “King bed, work area with internet, limestone bath with soaking tub and enclosed rain shower,” he didn't need to pay for it himself. He got it compliments of his wealthy friend, political contributor, and fellow party animal Doctor Salomon Melgen. Doctor Melgen could afford it since he was loaded due to his business practice of defrauding Medicare to the tune of $105 million.

An extravagant hotel room was the least of Dr. Melgen's gifts to Senator Menendez. According to the U.S. Department of Justice "among other gifts, Menendez accepted flights on Melgen’s private jet, a first-class commercial flight and a flight on a chartered jet; numerous vacations at Melgen’s Caribbean villa in the Dominican Republic and at a hotel room in Paris; and $40,000 in contributions to his legal defense fund and over $750,000 in campaign contributions. Menendez never disclosed any of the reportable gifts that he received from Melgen on his financial disclosure forms."

And so, way back two and a half years ago, Senator Menendez was indicted on one count of conspiracy, eight counts of bribery, and three counts of honest services fraud. The indictment spelled out how Menendez used "his Senate office and staff to advocate on behalf of Melgen’s personal and financial interests."

Here's the indictment:

Sen. Bob Menendez and Dr. Salomon Melgen Indictment by Reena Flores on Scribd

Well, Senator Menendez finally went on trial this week, although I have seen little to no news media coverage of it so far.

Despite his indictment on public corruption charges, the U.S. Senate has not taken any action against Menendez. It has not expelled him, sanctioned him, or even removed him from his committee assignments. One of those assignments was to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which I'm sure was especially pertinent to Menendez's ability to assist Dr. Melgen by pressuring the U.S. State Department to issue visas for the doctor's foreign girlfriends, an offense which features in the indictment.

Bob Menendez was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 113th Congress and continues to serve as a member of the powerful Committee that helps shape foreign policy of broad significance, in matters of war and peace and international relations. In the current 115th Congress

How lucky for Melgen that he had a pet Senator in an ideal position from which to write a letter of support to the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic for a 22-year-old girlfriend and her 18-year-old sister who wanted to visit him in Miami. And when the sisters' applications were denied (a memo outlining the reason read: “Siblings, 18 and 22 yrs old. No children. No previous travel. To go visit a friend in Florida. Neither is working. No solvency on their own. Not fully convinced of motives for travel.”) the good Senator Menendez was willing to take the matter up with the ambassador and with high-ranking officials in the State Department. The sisters were re-interviewed and got their visas the second time around.

Senator Menendez of the Foreign Relations Committee was also willing to write letters of support for a Ukrainian model/actress girlfriend of Melgen's who needed a tourist visa, and for a Brazilian actress who Melgen set up as a law student in Miami.

There is lots more in the indictment, including a charge that Menendez interfered with State Department officials to further one of Melgen's side businesses - purchasing the exclusive right to sell port security inspection equipment to the government of the Dominican Republic - while simultaneously trying to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from sending the Dominican Republic free inspection equipment.

Unless there was a Senator-caught-with-a-dead-prostitute extortion angle here à la Godfather II - and I do not totally discount that there might have been - Menendez was abusing his office out of simple greed. He certainly wasn't the first. Twelve previous U.S. Senators have been convicted on various charges while in office. Political reactions to those convictions have varied.

The last such case was in 2008, when Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) was found guilty of seven counts of making false statements, after which there were immediate and bipartisan calls for his resignation. Barack Obama said that Stevens needed to resign to help "put an end to the corruption and influence-peddling in Washington." In any event, Stevens was never sentenced and his conviction was thrown out due to prosecutorial misconduct so egregious that the Department of Justice opened criminal contempt investigations on six members of its own prosecution team.

The last Senator to be convicted before Stevens was Harrison Williams (D-NJ), who was convicted of taking bribes in the Abscam investigation in May of 1981. He brazenly stayed in office until March of 1982, resigning only when the Senate was about to vote on his expulsion.

Should Senator Menendez be convicted, expect him to go the Harrison Williams route and stay in office while he appeals. Unlike with Williams, I'd also expect the Senate to tolerate his presence for at least as long as it takes to get another Democratic Governor in New Jersey. Should Menendez resign before Gov. Cristie leaves in January 2018, Cristie would presumably appoint himself to fill Menendez's term, improving the Republicans' thin 52-to-48 Senate majority. What's a little more corruption and influence-peddling in Washington compared to that?