US Sen. Bob Menendez's (D-NJ) corruption trial

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Here's a timeline of the major events in the case, and how a guilty verdict could reverberate in Washington.

2006: Menendez is elected to the Senate.

As soon as 2006: Menendez takes weekend and week-long vacations to the Dominican Republic, Florida and Paris with Melgen, on the doctor's private jet, prosecutors would later allege.

2012: Menendez gets reelected. Melgen is a major donor, contributing some $600,000 to super PACS to help his reelection campaign.

2012: An anonymous tipster reaches out to media outlets and the FBI to claim Menendez was paying for underage prostitutes while in the Dominican Republic. Those allegations didn't pan out, but they spurred the government's closer look at Menendez's relationship with Melgen, The Post's Paul Kane and Carol Leonnig reported.

April 1, 2015: Menendez is indicted on federal corruption charges. It is the first time in a generation that a sitting U.S. senator is indicted by the administration of his own party.

The Justice Department accuses Menendez of using his official position to help Melgen get around U.S. government roadblocks for his business and personal ventures. Melgen is also indicted.

The indictment alleges the men engaged in a quid pro quo since Menendez was first elected, detailing:

• Menendez took 19 free rides on Melgen's private jets to luxury resorts around the world, sometimes bringing guests.
• Menendez helped three of Melgen's foreign-born girlfriends get visas to visit the United States.
• Over a period of four years, Menendez held several meetings with U.S. health officials to help Melgen settle an $8.9 million Medicare payment dispute, at one point asking then-Senate majority leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) to help out.
• Melgen made more than $600,000 in campaign donations to super PACs to get Menendez reelected in 2012.
• As Melgen was emailing Menendez's staff in April and May 2012, promising to donate to Menendez's campaign, prosecutors allege Menendez reached out to top State Department officials to urge them to enforce a port-security contract with the Dominican Republic that would benefit Melgen's company.

 

 

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April 2017: In a separate criminal case, a Florida jury finds Melgen guilty of stealing up to $105 million from Medicare by falsely reporting how much he treated patients in his Palm Beach County practice. It's one of the largest Medicare health-care fraud schemes in history. He could face 20 years in prison when he's sentenced this fall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/09/05/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sen-bob-menendezs-corruption-trial/

 

 

 

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NYT Writes 1300 Words About Dem Senator’s Corruption Trial Without Mentioning He’s A Democrat

The New York Times published an almost 1300-word news story in Tuesday’s paper about Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial, without ever mentioning Menendez’s party affiliation.

Both in print and on social media, the NYT failed to inform its readers that Sen. Menendez is a Democrat.

 

“For the first time in 36 years, a sitting United States Senator is facing a federal bribery trial,” read a NYT tweet promoting the story, which was titled: “Menendez Trial Set to Begin With Tensions High and Washington Watching.”

 

 

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The paper referred to him as ” The senator,” “Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey,” and “Mr. Menendez, a senior senator,” before referring to him as “Mr. Menendez” or “the senator” for the rest of the story. Only after a barrage of online criticism did the NYT note that Menendez is a Democrat, adding in the identifier in the fourth paragraph.

Menendez faces 12 corruption-related charges dealing with his alleged assistance in government affairs of a Democratic donor, Dr. Solomon Melgen, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including private flights and free vacations.

 

 

http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/04/nyt-writes-1300-words-about-dem-senators-corruption-trial-without-mentioning-hes-a-democrat/

 

 

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Judge Rejects Menendez’s Request To Delay His Corruption Trial Because He’s A Senator

A federal judge in New Jersey rejected Sen. Bob Menendez’s request to allow breaks in his criminal trial in order to fulfill his Senate duties, excoriating the senator for seeking “special treatment.”

Menendez’s lawyers filed a motion requesting that his upcoming criminal trial take recesses any time the senator is needed in Washington on official business. They argued that forcing the senator to leave an ongoing trial to attend to congressional business would violate his due process rights.

“A trial taking place during a session of Congress risks involuntarily denying Senator Menendez his rights to due process and confrontation, unless he elects to forego his constitutional duty to cast his vote on critical issues pending before Congress so that he can be present in the courtroom,” his lawyers argued.

U.S. District Judge William Walls appeared irritated by the request in a Friday order dismissing the motion.

“The court will not serve as concierge to any party or lawyer,” Walls wrote. “The motion – from a practical perspective – is nigh frivolous.”

He further added that he suspected the motion was part of a broader strategy to “impress the jurors” with Menendez’s importance.

 

 

 

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“Defendant Menendez claims that he is in a ‘unique situation’ because his voting duties are ‘on a schedule not of his own making.’ But so are the duties of the radio repairman, the cab driver, and the businessman. Yet none would claim the right to dictate the schedule of their own criminal trial,” he wrote.

The senator has previously attempted to leverage his office in the course of the current prosecution. He attempted to escape indictment by arguing his activities were protected by the Constitution’s speak and debate clause, which protects lawmakers from prosecution in connection with official legislative work.

He faces 14 felony counts of various corruption charges.

 

http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/01/judge-rejects-menendezs-request-to-delay-his-corruption-trial-because-hes-a-senator/

 

 

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Harry Reid Asked Obama White House To Help Menendez Donor

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid personally asked the Obama administration to help a Florida eye doctor who was accused of paying Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, according to the Department of Justice.

The senator asked Reid in November 2011 to pressure the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to drop its ruling against Dr. Solomon Melgen, wherein the agency claimed the eye doctor over-billed Medicaid for $8.9 million, Bloomberg reports.

Reid called a former Obama aide to reportedly try and apply pressure on the administration to intervene in the case, but the aide refused to get involved in the matter after he realized the case involved a single doctor and a federal agency.

Menendez is set to appear before a judge in early September along with Melgen, who is charged with bribing the senator with large sums of money, extravagant trips and campaign fundraisers at his 6,500-square-foot home in North Palm Beach, Fla., in exchange for his assistance in navigating government disputes.

The defense lawyers for Menendez and Melgen argued Wednesday that prosecutors in the case are bringing up “new, irrelevant and inflammatory facts,” with the allegations that Menendez used Reid to pressure the Obama White House.

 

 

http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/31/harry-reid-asked-obama-wh-to-help-menendezs-donor/

 

Of course, when there's a Dem corruption scandal and trial afoot, Harry Reid had to be a part of it. 

[Dashinka 23,235]

Oh what a tangled web some people weave.  Honestly, if any lawmaker did what he did, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  I loved his attempt to dictate the timeline of the trial.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Hmmm. Obama let this case proceed. First time in history a sitting Senator is indigted by his own Party. Think the R's have the testicular fortitude to clean up their own house?

[Dashinka 23,235]

16 minutes ago, ready4ONE said:

Hmmm. Obama let this case proceed. First time in history a sitting Senator is indigted by his own Party. Think the R's have the testicular fortitude to clean up their own house?

I think if someone did the things Menendez is accused of doing they would prosecute.  I give the Obama DOJ credit for taking this forward, but speculating if the other side would do similarly is just conjecture at this point.