The Department of Justice released a sealed indictment of Senator Menendez this morning. Here is the first paragraph of the allegations:
From at least 2018 up to and including in or bout 2022, MENENDEZ and his wife, NADINE MENENDEZ, a/k/a “Nadine Arslanian,” the defendant, engaged in a corrupt relationship with three New Jersey associates and businessmen—WAEL HANA, aka “Will Hana,” JOSE URIBE, and FRED DAIBES, the defendants—in which MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ agreed to and did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using MENENDEZ’s power and influence as a Senator to seek to protect and enrich HANA, URIBE, and DAIBES and to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt. Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value,
Jersey Jackals, start calling Trenton and DC to pressure this jagoff to resign.
syphonblue
Cool. Now indict Alito and Thomas for corruption as well.
Alison Rose
I realize the gold was probably jewelry or something, but I can’t help but picture a pyramid stack of gold bars.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
Get him.
Joe Falco
At least New Jersey (and us) are fortunate that NJ has a governor with a (D) after their name. It doesn’t give a cover for this schmuck to hide behind that it will endanger the Democrats’ thin grasp on the Senate if he resigns.
David Anderson
@Alison Rose: No, a good chunk of the gold was in old fashion gold bars — there are pictures in the indictment and here are the forfeiture targets:
e. Two one-kilogram gold bars seized from the Englewood Cliffs Premises on or about June 16, 2022.
f. Eleven one-ounce gold bars seized from the Englewood Cliffs Premises on or about June 16, 2022
Alison Rose
@David Anderson: Oh! LOL well…I guess some people like to do their criming in old-fashioned ways.
Elizabelle
This news did not displease me. New Jersey can elect a better senator. Menendez has been problematic for years.
rikyrah
Didn’t he get re-elected after the last set of charges?
Suzanne
What are the odds this POS tries to hang on?
JMG
@Suzanne: I’d say 100 percent.
Geminid
@David Anderson: Sounds like Menendez knew this was coming. He’s a bold one. This Spring Menendez told reporters that even though his “hold” on the sale of F-16s to Turkiye was not formally binding, if administration officials crossed him on this matter he could make things very difficult for them, and they knew it.
JML
Yuck. Jersey politics can be a cesspool. Hope the party can shove Bribery Bob out the door. He always was an asshole (I know Frank Lautenburg despised him from basically Day 1)
Yarrow
His term ends in 2024. I expect he’ll try to hang on until then. Maybe not run again.
Peale
@David Anderson: I think its important that it was in gold bars, as that signifies villainy. At least in K-Drama, you can always spot the villain because the villain always has gold bars in a safe somewhere.
Geminid
@JMG: Yeah, Menendez will most likely hang on. Menendez is a very stubborn man, and he still wields a lot of power as Foreign Relations Committee Chairman
Gregory
Let justice be done though the heavens fall.
Jackie
The difference between Democrats and the GQP in a nutshell. Menendez is all alone. He and his wife made their bed…
randy khan
@Yarrow:
He’s an arrogant guy who thinks he’s bulletproof, so I wouldn’t count on him not running. After the last go-round, when he was saved by a Supreme Court decision in another case, he basically said he knew who had stood by him and who hadn’t, and the ones who hadn’t were going to get punished.
tobie
@randy khan: Gawd…he sounds as arrogant as Joe Manchin.
jonas
I hope how Democrats handle this will draw a sharp contrast to how Republicans deal with corruption in their ranks, namely by wholeheartedly embracing it. George Santos is looking tan, rested, and ready these days…
Tom Levenson
My view is that Menendez and Clarence Thomas should prove us all wrong, and demonstrate that bipartisanship is still possible: they both resign.
Hahahahahaha.
Sometimes I crack myself up.
Jinchi
I doibt he’ll resign. Menendez treated this like a loyalty trst last time and I expect he’ll do it again.
SiubhanDuinne
AFAIK I have never seen her, but I recently became aware that Menendez’ daughter is apparently an MSNBC anchor. Has anyone seen her show? Is she a criming POS like her parents (ALLEGEDLY!!) or is she a good person/journalist? I don’t like to impose “sins of the father” stuff on the second generation unless it’s deserved ( e.g., DJTJ/Eric/Jarvanka) but I know nothing about the Menendez spawn.
Geminid
@jonas: Right now, I don’t think Democrats can do anything about Menendez except strip him of his committee chairmanship. But with a 51-49 Senate they need his vote, and he is a vindictive guy who would retaliate on floor votes.
Matt McIrvin
@Jackie: I do see the occasional blog-commenter type complaining about “Marquess of Queensbury rules” and wishing that Democrats could be a little more gangster and not care so much about this stuff. But they’re not the ones holding the reins.
Jinchi
@David Anderson: The gold bars thing seems crazy. What does a person even do with gold bars these days?
Alison Rose
@SiubhanDuinne: I’ve never seen her actual show, but I’ve seen her on the channel a handful of times on other shows. She seems fine, willing to go after GOPers and such. No idea if she’s sleazy like her pops.
Betty Cracker
My guess is not only will this crook NOT resign, he’ll run again, though it’s a great idea for Jerseyites to contact their party officials and demand a resignation anyway. He got away with it last time because bribery is basically legal now unless you go on camera, name the service you will perform in exchange for the money and accept an oversize check with BRIBERY in 72-pt font in the memo line. He probably thinks he can skate again.
Also, as I mentioned in an earlier thread, Menendez’s son now occupies the crook’s old House seat, so the crook probably imagines he can sleaze his spawn into the Senate when he’s ready to retire. Crook Jr. needs to get primaried too because fuck this nepo baby bullshit.
Corruption by Democrats infuriates me because the GOP is absurdly corrupt from top to bottom, and our party mostly isn’t. But people like Menendez give fuel to the “both-sides” narrative. I’d love to see Dems lean on Menendez hard — an example needs to be set.
Eunicecycle
@SiubhanDuinne: I’ve seen her several times and she seems okay to me. Young and earnest.
Parfigliano
@Geminid: He will retaliate on floor votes.
pluky
@Jinchi: Concentrated and portable wealth.
Alison Rose
@Jinchi:
[David Brooks tweet]: These office supplies cost me $2,000. This is why people think the economy is terrible. <photo of a notepad, a Bic pen, three paper clips, and a 1-oz gold bar holding down a stack of paper>
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
“Your Honor, honest mistake. I meant to write BIRBERY because the check was for the purpose of promoting birb watching.”
SiubhanDuinne
@Alison Rose:
@Eunicecycle:
Thanks. Glad to know it. I’ll try to be aware of her.
Alison Rose
Okay, the back and forth news on this is getting annoying for me in the US, so I can only imagine how maddening it is for Ukrainians. In Adam’s Ukraine post last night, there was a tweet quoting Jake Sullivan saying Biden would not provide ATACMS now but had not taken it off the table. But this was just posted by The Kyiv Independent within the last hour:
SiubhanDuinne
@Alison Rose:
L O L !
Baud
Mendendez isn’t even a great Dem ally on foreign relations.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
They do for media but I would argue that when normies see that prosecutions are nonpartisan it increases faith in the justice system and makes normies less vulnerable to the screeching online Right claims that Republicans are being persecuted.
Looking at the indictment Menedez is a good poster boy for how we can’t let corruption go unchecked. This is INSANELY blatant. Menedez and his wife thought they were untouchable. If you let it go it gets worse. Always.
HumboldtBlue
Fuck resigning, just tell the press to fuck off, tell the govt to suck a dick and go on about your business. If it’s good enough for the GOP it’s good enough for Jersey. Citizens United means that fucking money has rights, more rights than a pregnant 14-year-old who was raped by her stepdad, so just honor the first amendment right of that cash and move along. Make no apologies, admit no guilt, and just keep on keepin’ on.
Jackie
@SiubhanDuinne: I like her. American Voices is her wknd show.
kindness
Mendez must think like Trump’s kids. The guy gets taken to court multiple times on corruption charges, yet he continues to accept bribes. Damn. New Jersey peeps…..the ball is in your court.
jonas
@Geminid: I agree they can’t expel him or anything, but they can also not throw toddler tantrums and blame the media and “out of control Gestapo thugs” in the DOJ for piling on a poor, helpless guy who was just trying to help his friends and what, is it now a crime to care about someone??
Baud
@Kay:
Good point.
Baud
“Mr. President, when you heard about Senator Menendez being indicted, how many years did it age you?”–Kristen Welker, probably.
Delk
LOL…the indictment says the day after he got the bars he googled ‘how much is a kilo of gold worth?’
Baud
@Delk:
That much stupidity should be a crime in itself.
Kay
@Baud:
Republicans literally just held a “hearing” on how the DOJ is biased against Republicans. Screeching. Amplified by Elon Musk and the rest of the bros.
Garland must be sitting there thinking “these fucking clowns, wasting my time”.
M31
@David Anderson: wow, gold bars?
next we’ll find out he was paid in large cloth sacks with a big “$” on the side, tied shut with rope
Baud
@Kay:
Yep, good time for Garland to say “I meant what I said, no one is above the law.”
Kay
@Delk:
If he watched Court TV he would know the first thing they do is look at searches – they always find them too. “How to kill wife”
Maxim
@Alison Rose: Ha! Good one.
Baud
At least he didn’t accept NFTs as bribes. That would have been unforgivable.
Maybe if Trump wins, he can pardon Menendez as a way to curry favor to Dems.
Baud
@Kay:
I hope criminals never learn about incognito mode.
HumboldtBlue
Until Trump, Kushner, Ivanka, Ginni Thomas and about six dozen other people are incarcerated I want Menendez to remain in his seat and force the govt to prosecute. No resigning, no temporizing, no apologies, just repeat “citizens united” over and over, make no concessions, agree to no deals, just hoist a middle finger and go about your day.
If the Kochsuckers can get millions in donations from unnamed sources, Menendez can get envelopes full of cash from his supporters. I’m all for it.
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
I would love it if he resigned so the Dem governor in NJ could appoint someone else.
Marcopolo
“Over $480,000 in cash—much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe—was discovered in the home …“
Hear me out, maybe he just doesn’t trust banks…oh, wait, I’m getting some additional information:
”Some of the envelopes contained the fingerprints and/or DNA of” co-defendant making alleged bribes.”
No, that does not look good. Lol, you’d think his brush w/ the legal system 6 years ago might have chastened him (or at least made him more circumspect) about criming but NOPE.
Last thought: looks slam dunk but the way the courts dealt with him before & the Ken Cuccineli (so?) case, lol, and Clarence Thomas & SCOTUS who knows?
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
Jersey has voting machines, they can line up at the next election and select their senator.
M31
@Baud: I would love it if he resigned and the gov appointed Hunter Biden to the seat, just to see a lot of heads explode
M31
If he traded the kilo gold bars for a luxury yacht vacation/private jet combo, that’s totally legal then, right
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
That’s over a year away.
ETA: Not that it matters. He’s not resigning.
Prescott Cactus
@Alison Rose:
The vision is indeed one of pallets or pyramids of gold bars.
It’s $100,000 dollars worth. The measurements for a 10 oz bar are:
2 1/2″ long X 1 1/3″ wide X 3/8″ thick. These are rounded up.
All they would have had are 5 of these bars. It’s like 5 candy bars in size. Plus no calories.
Sensationalist prosecutorial mind printing.
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
Ken Paxton was indicted more than six years ago IIRC, we can live with a year-plus.
Burnspbesq
@tobie:
he sounds as arrogant as Joe Manchin.
Orders of magnitude worse than that. We’re talking Paxton level here.
Dems can kill to birds with one stone next year. Get rid of one of the last vestiges of the old Hudson County way of doing things, and also kick Gottheimer upstairs—he can do less harm in the Senate than he’s done in the House.
Baud
I wonder if someone will announce a primary run next week.
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
It’s not a question of what we can live with. It’s a question of what we prefer. And I’d prefer him gone ASAP.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: Bribery is not basically legal now. I know a lot of people keep saying this on account of the McDonnell case, but I think the scope of that ruling has been exaggerated.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Agree. A “become the thing you despise” strategy seems more like a self-own than a middle finger to the opponent.
@Burnspbesq:
Oh HELL no!
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
@Betty Cracker:
To be clear, I say that because NJ has a Dem governor. My views would change if it meant giving fascists more power.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: I could not possibly disagree more. I’ll leave it at that.
@Baud: Yep — there’s not even the need to compromise your integrity in this case.
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
I’m full on fed up, fuck the laws, fuck “do the right thing” fuck bending a knee on this or any other supposed malfeasance, the media is not going to do anything different from what they do now and coddle the GOP and both sides the Dems. So be obstreperous, don’t yield, don’t bend and tell all involved the money is protected under the first amendment and citizens united and if you don’t like it, oh well.
If the DOJ wants to prosecute, make them prosecute.
rikyrah
if his seat is up in 2024, then the NJ Dems need to run someone in the primary.
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
If it came out that Menendez was a Nazi, I wouldn’t want him to stay just because the GOP coddles Nazis and the media ignores it. Same here.
But he’s not resigning so the whole discussion is academic.
Betty
Ah! Jagoff. You did used to live in Pittsburgh, David.
Tom Levenson
The one hope here is that the Feds have him dead to rights. And can offer him an Agnew deal: plead guilty, resign, and stay out of Club Fed.
That seems to me to be the only way out of this hole before ’24. And that would get howls of rage from the right who would denounce such a “sweetheart” deal.
A possible counter: as noted above, I’d offer the same deal to Thomas*…Both sides!
*I know the two cases are not equivalent; Thomas was smart enough to take his bribes in less tangible goods than gold bars.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: As you point out, Josh Gottheimer incites a lot of animus among Democrats nationally. Like Kyrsten Sinema, that is probably true in his own state as well.
From my lofty perch 300 miles to the south, Representative Mikey Sherril seems like a better candidate. She checks off the ex-prosecutor box and the former Army helicopter pilot one as well.
Besides, the House needs Gottheimer to continue in his vital role of Co-Chairman of the Problem Solvers Caucus.
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
Taking money from supporters is far from being a Nazi, that’s a truly poor comparison.
Make no apologies for accepting money from constituents, Sam Alito said that’s just fine, it’s speech, so treat it as such. If Jersey voters want to replace him, they can recall him or vote him out next time around.
Alison Rose
@HumboldtBlue: Do we really want our standards to align with Alito’s?
HumboldtBlue
@Tom Levenson:
A luxury motor home is as tangible as a gold bar. A house paid for by others is as tangible as a gold bar. Tuition paid for your pretend son is as tangible as a gold bar.
@Alison Rose:
Hell yes, why not? That fuck made the rules, so play by his fucked up rules. If it’s good enough for Clarence Thomas and the Kochs it’s good enough for Menendez.
ARoomWithAMoose
@Prescott Cactus: Had the gold been in the form of an art piece or a regularly displayed coin collection in the residence, then yeah, that would be the prosecutor sensationalizing someone’s affectations in their display of wealth. These were hidden and in a fungible form (though I have no idea how to fence a $62K one kilo gold bar, it’s never come up in my life).
tokyokie
The seizure of the gold reminds me of the case of Shin Kanemaru, a powerful figure within Japan’s LDP who was busted for bribery 30 years ago. When the cops searched his house, they found hundreds of pounds of gold and more than $50 million in bearer bonds. So in that regard, the Menendezes are pikers compared to old Shin, whose last name translates as “money circle.”
Anyway, the question the indictment raises for me is whether the “Jose Uribe” who is the Menendezes’ co-indictee is the same guy who played shortstop for the San Francisco Giants for several years in the late 1980s. But as that Jose Uribe was from the Dominican Republic and would be in his mid-60s now, I rather doubt he’s the one who’s been indicted.
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
The point is that we don’t set our standards using the GOP as a yardstick.
And I doubt he reported the gold as a campaign contribution.
ETA: If he’s bring railroaded, I apologize to him in advance.
Alison Rose
@HumboldtBlue: But do you want to see Thomas punished in some way for what he’s done?
Ken
Though the true villains have bars of plutonium in the safe.
Most of the gold bugs say that it’s because the economy and/or fiat dollar are sure to collapse any day now, and then only gold will have value neener neener. I hope that isn’t why Menendez had the gold; he’s in a position to help along such a collapse.
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
That’s very noble, but the Supreme Court has left us no choice. Their dark unaccounted for money is just as underhanded as this appears to be, and yet it’s everyday business, so in order not to be left behind, play by the rules of the game as they are.
Yes, I am being a tad unreasonable, but that’s only because I was left severely frustrated at the DMV today (not their fault, our DMV office is fantastic) because I’m an idiot.
But I still maintain Menendez give everyone a middle finger. No apologies, no backing down, come up with a defense for your actions and make the DOJ prosecute. These are how the rules of the game have been set up, let’s play by them.
scav
They’re fucking cartoon villains. Can I vote for an anvil falling on their heads, then a little pair of hands pop up waving white flags which then get cuffed and dragged off to court for the full meal deal? I’d be willing to make it a solid gold anvil to suit their sense of style, but a solid no on prison being a low-no-show lifestyle option.
Geminid
@Marcopolo: It was the Bob McDonnell case. Ken Cuccinelli was the Attorney General.l when McDonnell was Governor. Cuccinelli (mostly) steered clear of the businessman who got McDonnell and his wife in trouble.
sab
@Kay: I tell my husband that every time I catch him watching true crime shows: they caught him.
trollhattan
Did Menendez change his name from Soprano?
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: hahaha
Anyway
@sab: lol!
WaterGirl
@Baud: He is chair of Foreign Relations, I think. If he resigned, would we be in the same boat as we are with Feinstein? They wouldn’t allow a new committee member or chair, so we wouldn’t be in the majority on that committee?
Villago Delenda Est
The Spanish Hapsburgs can tell you all about the intrinsic value of gold.
WaterGirl
@Baud: He forgot to add “just asking for a friend”.
Gravenstone
Holy Jesus! Looked at the current spot price for gold and it’s nearly $2k/oz. That makes this little stash alone over $150k.
@Peale: I thought the villainous default was the Krugerrand?
scav
@WaterGirl: As though the Democrats aren’t already an effective minority on the committee with him being a representative of the highest bidder, foreign or domestic.
Marcopolo
@Geminid: thank for the correcx; the Cucch war corrupt/amoral in an entirely diff way in the Trump admin.
Amy
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, his daughter, Alicia, has a weekend show on MSNBC evenings called “American Voices”. She reads the usual news, plus has lots of segments on diversity and immigration, and singles out topics of interest to the Hispanic constituency of the Democratic party. I don’t think she’s too bad, and it took me a long time to realize she was the Senator’s daughter.
Omnes Omnibus
@HumboldtBlue: I disagree. We are supposed to be the good guys. We should act like it. Ukrainians are following the rules of war in an existential struggle. Are you say that we are incapable of similar behavior in an somewhat less fraught situation? I think we are better than that.
Jackie
@WaterGirl: I guess that’s a moot question:
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Interesting. That was such a big deal with Feinstein, this makes me say hmm.
Prescott Cactus
@ARoomWithAMoose:
You gotta get out more !
Rebel’s Dad
Sure, we can get him to resign, but what other
shitbagschoices are in the wings?Phil Murphy, our awesome governor who is term-limited and out in 2025, would be good, I think. Not sure if he can appoint himself, but our new lieutenant governor (RIP, Sheila Oliver) is a Dem too. Reps. Andy Kim and Frank Pallone (my new rep) seem to be fine choices, too.
This being Jersey, they’ll pick the sleaziest guy for the job.
dnfree
Late to the post, adding Mother Jones on the Menendez wife, new in 2020.
https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2021/01/11-facts-about-sen-bob-menendezs-marriage-proposal/
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Menendez has long been the Joe Manchin of foreign policy, good fucking riddance to him if we’re finally shed of him
Geminid
@Rebel’s Dad: There is also Rep. Mikey Sherrill, who like Andy Kim was part of the House Class of 2018.
Rep. Pallone would be an interesting choice. He is chairman of a very powerful House committee though, and might not want to make the jump at his age.
Chris T.
@Kay:
“It was a typo! I meant to use the LEFT hand, how to kiss wife!”
Another Scott
@HumboldtBlue: A new opinion piece at TheHill.com – Fix elections by allowing unlimited campaign cash.
More political money fixes everything!! Maybe it’s written by that Brinks Truck guy??
Of course, “fix” has at least a couple of different meanings…
(I haven’t read it. I think that it dropped before the indictments hit the news.)
Cheers,
Scott.