Sen. Menendez and his wife indicted on bribery charges

[emailking]

I wonder how/if his daughter will cover it this weekend. She usually just ignores news about her dad entirely.

[emailking]

The prosecutors are discussing the indictment and laying out evidence now.

[emailking]

I wonder how/if his daughter will cover it this weekend. She usually just ignores news about her dad entirely.

Her show is pre-empted for a special on the looming government shutdown, but they said the show will be back tomorrow. :shrug:

[emailking]

George Santos said Menendez should not resign. No link but I saw the clip.

[emailking]

I wonder how/if his daughter will cover it this weekend. She usually just ignores news about her dad entirely.

Her show is pre-empted for a special on the looming government shutdown, but they said the show will be back tomorrow. :shrug:

I had no idea that she was his daughter. You learn something new every day, I suppose.

Perhaps unsurprising, she is not on her show today, Castro is in for her. But he said she's coming back next week. Don't know what if anything this says about him maybe thinking about resigning. In any case, I now expect she will never mention it.

[emailking]

Well if they called for him to resign it could give the appearance they're trying to influence the legal case. And they're going to great pains not to comment on anything DOJ does that touches the political realm.

[emailking]

Menendez and wife enter not guilty plea to all charges

Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine have pleaded not guilty to all three counts they face as part of an alleged bribery conspiracy.

More than half of the Senate Democratic caucus has called on Menendez to resign, but the New Jersey senator has so far refused and maintained he is innocent.

https://www.cnn.com/webview/politics/live-news/nj-senator-bob-menendez-court-hearing/index.html


Released on $100,000 bond.

[emailking]

I wonder how/if his daughter will cover it this weekend. She usually just ignores news about her dad entirely.

Her show is pre-empted for a special on the looming government shutdown, but they said the show will be back tomorrow. :shrug:

I had no idea that she was his daughter. You learn something new every day, I suppose.

Perhaps unsurprising, she is not on her show today, Castro is in for her. But he said she's coming back next week. Don't know what if anything this says about him maybe thinking about resigning. In any case, I now expect she will never mention it.

She opened her show acknowledging what happened. She said she will not be reporting on it on her show but her colleagues will continue to aggressively report on it "as they should."

[emailking]

Sen. Bob Menendez charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent of Egypt in new indictment

Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced an additional charge against New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, alleging they conspired to have the senator act as a foreign agent of Egypt.

The superseding indictment filed against Menendez, who was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time of the alleged actions, adds a new dimension to the case by alleging a US senator was working on behalf of another country.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, were indicted last month on corruption-related offenses, and are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the senator’s influence.

Prosecutors had alleged the bribes included gold, cash, home mortgage payments, compensation for a “low-or-no-show job” and a luxury vehicle.

Both Menendez and his wife have pleaded not guilty. A trial date has been set for May.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/12/politics/bob-menendez-superseding-indictment-foreign-agent/index.html

[emailking]

It's a bit of a 🤯 the fist time you realize it huh?

[emailking]

US Senator Menendez's corruption trial on verge of getting jury

A jury for U.S. Senator Robert Menendez's corruption trial could be seated as soon as Wednesday, to assess the Democrat's role in what federal prosecutors called a years-long bribery scheme to benefit foreign governments and himself.

In a second day of jury selection, U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein questioned 32 prospective jurors on Tuesday in his Manhattan courtroom.

They had said they could be could be impartial toward New Jersey's senior senator, who has pleaded not guilty to 16 criminal charges including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction.

Earlier, the judge dismissed at least 75 others from the jury pool for the trial, which he has said could last into July.

Though no jurors have been seated, Stein said a jury could be chosen on Wednesday morning, followed by opening statements.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/jury-selection-resume-us-senator-menendezs-corruption-trial-2024-05-14/


Judge thinks we'll get opening statements in a few hours.

[emailking]

Opening statements begin in New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez’s bribery trial

Opening statements in the Justice Department’s bribery case against Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey began Wednesday afternoon following the selection of a jury after nearly three days of sifting through a group of 150 New Yorkers.

The 12 jurors and six alternates were sworn in Wednesday in the Manhattan courtroom, before prosecutors and defense attorneys began their opening statements.

During the selection process, the pool of potential jurors was read a list of more than 100 possible witnesses in the case, from sitting and former US senators to several sheikhs and former White House officials, as well as a list of companies and entities, including Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The vast majority of those named on the witness list – which is used to help attorneys and the court whittle down the jury pool – will not be called to testify.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/15/politics/bob-menendez-bribery-trial/index.html

[emailking]

Prosecutors in Bob Menendez trial can't use evidence they say is critical to case, judge rules

Prosecutors trying to prove that New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez wielded his political influence in exchange for bribes cannot show jurors evidence that they argue is "critical" to their case, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein said prosecutors could not use text messages from 2019 that allegedly show Menendez, who was the top Democrat on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, assuring Egypt and the New Jersey businessmen who are alleged to have bribed him that he was not delaying military aid to the country after Egypt heard he had put a hold on it.

The jury also cannot see another text from 2022 in which the senator's wife, Nadine, allegedly told one of the businessmen that "Bob had to sign off on this." The text included a link about two pending foreign military sales to Egypt, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors argued last week that Egypt was "frantic about not getting their money's worth," which is why it contacted Menendez through two of the New Jersey businessmen, who allegedly gave the senator cash, gold bars, and other things of value...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bob-menendez-trial-bribery-egypt-military-aid/