CNN reports on the superseding indictment of Sen. Menendez (D-NJ/D-Egypt)
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.
Asking him to resign has not worked.
Time to tee up an expulsion vote.
Baud
Check out Reed Smoot, 1907.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
As in Smoot-Hawley?
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
I assume so. How many Senator Smoot’s could there have been?
Old School
@Baud:
Interesting.
Betty Cracker
Amen. I despise all corrupt pols, but corrupt Democrats are especially infuriating because they give ammo to cynics who peddle the false “both sides are equally corrupt and terrible” bullshit.
SiubhanDuinne
[Shrug emoji] I checked. Same Smoot.
Was it Michele Bachman who kept referring to the “Hoot-Smalley” Tariff Act? Somebody like her, anyhow.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I look at Hoot-Smalley and Smoot-Halley, and I have to admit, they look equally plausible.
Alison Rose
@Baud: They expelled him for having a name that sounds like a minor Dickens character.
wjca
In short, for being agents of a (temporarily) foreign government. Which would seem quite parallel to this case.
Baud
@wjca:
No. Menendez is scum, but I’m not comparing him to traitors.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Really? Even though he appears to be in bed with people who are not our friends? And acting on their behalf?
Suzanne
@SiubhanDuinne: YES! Crazy Eyes kept blathering on and on about HOOT-SMALLEY, which is only slightly less funny than JOEMENTUM.
Suzanne
Also, it was “Smoot-Hawley”. Wouldn’t it be nutty if Josh Hawley was a relation.
smith
@Baud: And yet, actual insurrectionists and probable agents of Russia are still members in good standing. I’m not arguing against expelling Menendez, but I do think some serious investigation would turn up more candidates.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Corruption < treason in my book. Especially treason in defense of slavery.
Baud
@smith:
Possibly. I would not be opposed to expelling proven insurrectionists, although we don’t have the votes for it.
WaterGirl
@Baud:
you’ve got me there.
JML
Light a fire under the prosecutor’s ass, because that’s what’s going to get Menendez out: a deal. I’d be careful of an expulsion vote just because it gives the feckless and moronic GOP caucus an opportunity and stage to pull shenanigans.
Or does anyone here NOT think that Confirmed Moron Tommy Tuberville and Treasonous Gasbag Josh Hawley wouldn’t immediately seize the stage if given the opportunity?
smith
@Baud: True. I guess I am hoping more for serious investigations, by prosecutors, not politicians, into the money trails that almost certainly exist from Moscow to their pockets, and they can have the indictment experience themselves.
piratedan
@SiubhanDuinne: IIRC, I believe that piece of legislation was mentioned by none other than Ben Stein in Ferris Buehler’s Day Off as Stein was portrayed as the annoying civics teacher checked in upon during the beginnings of the truancy….
Buehler? Buehler? Anyone? Anyone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUjhSBjxuXA
or I could be completely wrong…
Geminid
I think Menendez won’t hazard a trial and will make a plea bargain. He’ll probably hang onto his Senate seat until then because it’s a little bit of a bargaining chip.
Baud
@Geminid:
Agree. I’m halfway curious if the superceding indictment isn’t a precursor to negotiating a plea bargain. It puts prosecutors in a stronger position.
Eolirin
@Geminid: Menendez has every reason to think that the Supreme Court will toss a conviction just like last time. Unless they have him dead to rights with evidence of a quid pro quo, there’s a halfway decent chance they will even.
Cacti
Toss Bob’s crooked arse overboard.
Geminid
@Eolirin: Last time Menendez was skating along the edge of legality, but this time he went way over the edge. I think prosecutors have Menendez wrapped up tight this time, and if he takes this to trial he’ll have a good chance of dying in prison. So I think his attorneys will tell him he’s gotta take a deal and he will.
Baud
@Eolirin:
@Geminid:
I’m not going to predict what will happen, but it seems odd to suggest that prosecutors haven’t read the prior court cases and considered them in weighing the evidence they have against Menendez this time.
wjca
Definitely not arguing otherwise. But serving as an agent of a foreign power, which is what is charged, isn’t mere corruption. Even if he was paid to do it.
He’s also charged with corruption, but that’s separate. (And, as a side note, corruption has been viewed as at least deserving of a motion to expel a Senator. Even though those motions failed, or were preempted by the offender leaving office.)
Shalimar
@Baud: But Menendez’s key sins aren’t the corruption. They are using his position to help a foreign power. If you want to argue that helping an ally take more of our money isn’t as bad as treason, I agree with you there. But it still should be enough to get expelled.
Baud
@wjca:
@Shalimar:
Agent of a foreign power normally does not rise to the level of treason against the country, and I don’t believe it does so here.
I’m not even sure whether violation of that statute carries a heavier penalty than the corruption charge. The charge is a failure to register as an agent, not being an agent. It’s more embarrassing for a sitting Senator though.
rikyrah
Get rid of him the old-fashioned way:
The 2024 Democratic Party Primary.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
What I’m worried about is the corrupt Supreme Court legalizing even more kinds of corruption. If they could come up with some BS reason why the first amendment said bribery of a public official was totally legal, they’d do it. Then they’d start conning yachts through the enormous loophole they’d just created.
Eolirin
@Baud: I’m not saying that. I’m saying I don’t trust the Supremes to not move the goalposts again. Normalizing bribery and corruption is very much in their best interest
See also Roger Moore above me.
Baud
@Roger Moore:
@Eolirin:
Anything is possible with this court, but if the question is what Menendez thinks his chances of success are, he can’t really put too much weight on the likelihood of that happening. In the prior case, he had the benefit of the Supreme Court’s prior decision involving the VA governor.
Eolirin
@Baud: He can see the court same as the rest of us. It’s a risk to bank on it without existing rulings, but it depends on how brazen he is.
Baud
@Eolirin:
Sure. He has a right to a trial and appeal. He can do what he wants.
cain
WTF is this shit – https://mastodon.social/deck/@flexghost/111224195062993841
“Gov DeSantis signs executive order authorizing rescue of Floridians stranded in Israel: “Help is on the way”.
cain
lolol – https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/176aqkb/rep_george_santos_throws_tantrum_and_vows_to/
George Santos desperate to make sure there is no vote to expel him either. :D
This House is beyond parody.
Mike in Pasadena
Police in So Cal have intel that there will be an “incident” this weekend in California. It will be related to events in Israel possibly because US is aiding Israel. No specifics. Anybody hearing more?
Baud
@cain:
So pathetic.
sab
Totally off topic. I understand why people in Gaza are beyond angry.
I also realize why politically this has no point. Nobody in the wider world cares at all.
2 million people are trapped with no way out and nobody cares at all.
Dan B
@sab: Had a housemate from Gaza. He may have family there still. It’s unnerving that Bibi probably plans to level Gaza.
wjca
Anything to avoid helping Floridians who are actually in Florida. You know, actually doing the job he was elected to do. Couldn’t have that!
Tony Jay
@sab:
Oh, lots of people care. It’s just that very few of them are in positions of power, even fewer are in positions of sufficient power to actually do anything about it, and not a single one of them sees any domestic or international political benefit in bucking the current narrative that Israel is on the ropes and in desperate need of support both moral and explosive while the people of Gaza… just aren’t.
It’s taken a lot of effort by a lot of people to turn a few million oppressed Palestinians into the humanitarian equivalent of 2-D target outlines, but that’s the world we live in. Sadly, it’s probably going to take some truly awful act of nihilistic despair by someone with a big bomb and nothing left to lose to shock the world into asking why no one did something sooner, but by then it really will be too late.
This topic really makes me want to heave. Time for bed.
Paul in KY
@Alison Rose: He was ever so umble…