Sen. Menendez and his wife indicted on bribery charges

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The official White House position is that it is good that Menendez stepped down as Foreign Relations chair but that it's his own decision whether to resign from the Senate. Why?

This is the right stance, imo. He was duly elected for a six-year-term. A mere indictment does not require a resignation.
But leaving aside the merits, Rs are unlikely to get behind Menendez being removed, so if you are Biden, why do you burn all bridges by calling for his resignation? Especially when Menendez could just become a lobbyist in a worst-case scenario after going to jail.

Even if menendez is eventually redeemed why would Biden care that he would become a lobbyist years after biden is both out office, and presumably passed away? This is not the sort of thing you can walk away from.

The only reason biden isn't kicking him is that Joe has a tragic case of Senate Brain, which means the longer you spend in the chamber the more you are tricked by its own propaganda (worlds greatest debating chamber and so on).

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

The official White House position is that it is good that Menendez stepped down as Foreign Relations chair but that it's his own decision whether to resign from the Senate. Why?

This is the right stance, imo. He was duly elected for a six-year-term. A mere indictment does not require a resignation.
But leaving aside the merits, Rs are unlikely to get behind Menendez being removed, so if you are Biden, why do you burn all bridges by calling for his resignation? Especially when Menendez could just become a lobbyist in a worst-case scenario after going to jail.

Even if menendez is eventually redeemed why would Biden care that he would become a lobbyist years after biden is both out office, and presumably passed away? This is not the sort of thing you can walk away from.

The only reason biden isn't kicking him is that Joe has a tragic case of Senate Brain, which means the longer you spend in the chamber the more you are tricked by its own propaganda (worlds greatest debating chamber and so on).

By bringing that up I was implicitly noting he has basically zero leverage over Menendez. Probably the most Biden could do is futily try to turf him out of a Senate seat one year early and nuke his career as an elected official.
There's just no upside for Biden in demanding his resignation from the Senate altogether. And is even trying worth putting an additional Senate vote at risk?

[Pres Mike]

Personally? I lean towards Menendez should stay until conviction. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty by a jury of your peers.

I brought up two recent examples of politicians who should resign but won’t. George Santos should resign because he’s a comical clown. Keven de Leon should resign because he’s a racist.

What Menendez did was wrong, but it’s only a few steps above the average senator when it comes to lobbying. Had the gold bars and Mercedes been “campaign donations” or would be perfectly legal.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Be real people the guy is cooked. Short of having giant burlap sacks of cash with dollar signs printed on it, it's hard to imagine a more open and shut case.

[Ferguson97]

Be real people the guy is cooked. Short of having giant burlap sacks of cash with dollar signs printed on it, it's hard to imagine a more open and shut case.

Honestly he basically did that lol. He had cash in the lining of his coats and gold bars in his house.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

Be real people the guy is cooked. Short of having giant burlap sacks of cash with dollar signs printed on it, it's hard to imagine a more open and shut case.

Honestly he basically did that lol. He had cash in the lining of his coats and gold bars in his house.

The words on the back of the coats: “I really don’t care, do U?”

[Progressive Pessimist]

Be real people the guy is cooked. Short of having giant burlap sacks of cash with dollar signs printed on it, it's hard to imagine a more open and shut case.

Even just on the surface, next to murder or rape, bribery especially in such a comical way as this, is about the worst crime any politician canbe accused of. That's what the GOP is trying to force Biden into being guilty of after all.

[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.

[Progressive Pessimist]

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.

So that's what? One gold bar? No big deal.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Guilty as charged

[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."

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

When you have a Pandemic and people wantta get rich scheme fast, you have this corrupted politicians, Jesse Jackson Jr got caught trying to steal Obama Senate seat and his wife got caught trying to steal Lottery funds, but you don't remember it because Blago went to Fed pen for this too

[Roll Roons]

Alicia Menendez recusing herself from coverage of her father: https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1708245561604759892

Compare this to when Chris Cuomo got to interview his brother every night and tried to help him weather the scandals behind the scenes.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Alicia Menendez recusing herself from coverage of her father: https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1708245561604759892

Compare this to when Chris Cuomo got to interview his brother every night and tried to help him weather the scandals behind the scenes.

It's because the Menendezes uphold a higher standard of public service.

[Ferguson97]

Alicia Menendez recusing herself from coverage of her father:

Compare this to when Chris Cuomo got to interview his brother every night and tried to help him weather the scandals behind the scenes.

Good of her to do this. I won't judge a daughter for the sins of her father.

[Senator Incitatus]

Be real people the guy is cooked. Short of having giant burlap sacks of cash with dollar signs printed on it, it's hard to imagine a more open and shut case.

You may be overlooking the recent de facto legalization of bribery.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Alicia Menendez recusing herself from coverage of her father:

Compare this to when Chris Cuomo got to interview his brother every night and tried to help him weather the scandals behind the scenes.

I didn't want to judge Junior either, though he has been handling this much worse.

Good of her to do this. I won't judge a daughter for the sins of her father.

[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

[President Johnson]

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

How in the world is this guy still in office? He should resign right away, just as numerous Democratic colleagues demanded already.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Menendez for Santos, please take us up on this, GOP!

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://twitter.com/Tom_Winter/status/1712503734591242699

This is even worse. I think he's done. Especially since Democrats are trying to crucify Trump for similar things.

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/Tom_Winter/status/1712503734591242699

This is even worse. I think he's done. Especially since Democrats are trying to crucify Trump for similar things.

He is unquestionably losing his primary, but unfortunately they cannot force him to resign, and not enough Republicans would join Democrats in voting to expel him

[President Johnson]

https://twitter.com/Tom_Winter/status/1712503734591242699

This is even worse. I think he's done. Especially since Democrats are trying to crucify Trump for similar things.

He is unquestionably losing his primary, but unfortunately they cannot force him to resign, and not enough Republicans would join Democrats in voting to expel him

Democrats would have nothing to lose though. They can immediately fill the seat with another Democrat. It's a different situation from Santos since that would force Republicans into a special election they would likely lose in an already tight majority.

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/BenWeiserNYT/status/1763622209543680494

[brucejoel99]

News heating up recently as the trial draws near:

https://twitter.com/politico/status/1778491262586212625https://twitter.com/OneJerseySchorr/status/1779547321249730578https://twitter.com/OneJerseySchorr/status/1779926973512303040https://twitter.com/OneJerseySchorr/status/1780347830596461002