Sen. Robert Menendez Indicted on Corruption Charges

New Jersey Democrat has denied wrongdoing and called the DOJ's investigation politically motivated.

Talk Radio News Service/flickr

As expected, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has been indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on a number of corruption charges stemming from his relationship with a Miami donor. Menendez has consistently denied the allegations and prior to and after being re-elected in 2012, claimed the DOJ's investigation was a political smear job. Then, and now, the head of the DOJ, the executive branch of the federal government, and Menendez were all members of the same party.

If Mendendez resigns, a replacement would be chosen by Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, with a special election likely to follow later in the year. Given Menendez' consistent denial of wrongdoing, it's far from certain that he will resign. Only 15 senators have been expelled from the legislative body in its over 200 year history, 14 for supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War, and another in 1797 for treason and an anti-Spanish conspiracy. According to the Senate Historical Office, only four senators have ever been convicted of crimes while in office.

See previous coverage of the evolving Menendez scandal here.

Comments

[Mike M.]

It's one of the most blatantly politically motivated and spiteful prosecutions in American history.

Which isn't the least bit surprising, considering that Obama is one of the most blatantly politically motivated, spiteful persons ever to infect our body politic. This dude makes Richard Nixon look like Hammurabi.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Or more likely Menendez is guilty. But don't let me get in the way of some good wingnut CT.

[Xeones]

BUUUUUUUUUTTPLUUUUUGG

[Mike M.]

Go find some Christian baker to harass, fuckstain.

[MarkLastname]

So were those Russian oligarchs who opposed Putin, but I don't see you defending his prosecution of them.

[XM]

Irony - when some right leaning blogs reported on his alleged corruption almost 3 years ago, the senator and his allies insisted that it was all right wing smear job. Right wing!

[PapayaSF]

I think we have a two-mints-in-one situation: he's probably guilty, and the real reason he's being indicted is because he crossed Obama.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Even better wingnut CT. Mike M is a mere piker.

[Xeones]

BUUUUUUTTTTTPPPPPLLLLLUUUUUUUG

[Palin's Buttplug]

Mr. Buttplug to you.

[jay_dubya]

Dude dont make me stick up for Buttplug. A politician being indicted is pretty much guaranteed to be a good thing. And how does ditching a democrat and handing his seat to Republican Christie part of some Obama conspiracy? How are his interests served? Dont give Obo so much credit. He does plenty of awful things, but not everything that happens in the federal govt goes bacl to him. Its a big goverent (thats the problem).

[KDN]

Just remember that the plug spent the last 5 years going to the mat for Teflon Bob and his whole West Tammany operation because nothing was ever proven and you wingnuts are just a bunch of drooling christfags for thinking he could ever be guilty. I think it's funny how quick he changed his tune on ol' Bob.

[MarkLastname]

Whose Bob?

[Palin's Buttplug]

You're crazy. The only time I defended Menendez was when a ratfucker tried to tar him as a hooker/child molester type while in the DR.

It was the Daily Caller website. Team Red here jumped on the story as fact and later it was found that the site paid for a hooker to lie to them.

Even scummy politicians don't deserve to get ratfucked like that.

[R C Dean]

ratfucker, eh?

That's . . . Weigelesque.

[R C Dean]

This just gets more entertaining:

t had been more than a year since sources in the Menendez "scandal" recanted or disappeared; now, it was reported that the mysterious "Pete Williams," who tried to pitch the story to several outlets but only succeeded with the Daily Caller, was a golem created by "operatives from Cuba's Directorate of Intelligence."

http://www.slate.com/blogs/wei.....aller.html

h/t . . . wait for it . . . Weigel!

[KDN]

That's absolute nonsense. Whenever anyone (particularly us locals) brought up any of the umpteen scandals Menendez was suspiciously close to over the last decade and a half you waived your hands at them, stamped your feet shouting "NOT INDICTED NOT PROVEN LALALALALA CAN'T HEAR YOU" or did your usual BUT BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH schtick. You were just especially vociferous over the prostitution bit.

[XM]

"it was found that the site paid for a hooker to lie to them."

If that's true, why didn't anyone prosecute Carlson Tucker?

Univision and other media outlets also reported on that story. Who did they pay to lie?

The guy Menendez supposedly had shady dealings with was also connected to that scandal.

Menendez either has way less credibility now. It's only logical that we doubt his innocence on that statutory rape allegation.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

How bad do you have to piss off your party leadership to, as a sitting senator with your party controlling the executive branch, not get the typical slap on the wrist? (otherwise known as "ethics violations")

[Mike M.]

Almost any normal politician would have brushed off Menendez's rather mild criticisms, bought him off with a deal, or at worst would have disciplined him quietly in a back room somewhere.

But Obama's skin is so thin it makes an onion look like a vault you'd find in Ft. Knox. You'll never see a more petulant, childish little twerp as long as you live.

[buybuydandavis]

Obama knows the Senate is gone anyway. No need to let one less vote thwart settling political scores. Never underestimate the power of spite.

[PapayaSF]

He has always seemed far more interested in himself than in the fortunes of his party.

[Winston]

I would have thought the Senate would be easier to flip in 2016...

[Fist of Etiquette]

Maybe next time he'll learn to toe the line.

[Xeones]

You misspelled "tow the lion."

[waffles]

I blame the gay pizza wedding cakes for messing up our memes.

[gaoxiaen]

+1 toad-lion

[Dances-with-Trolls]

(Reposted from the last thread because reason pounded that one down like a wine cooler at a meth and southern BBQ festival)

OT: Reading through the Gay Marriage thread below made me think of this, which I thought I would share.

Most of you should be familiar by now with the Seven Stages of Liberal Legal Activism:

1. It's a free country, X should not be illegal.
2. The Constitution prohibits X from being made illegal.
3. If the Constitution protects a right to X, how can it be immoral? Anyone who disagrees is a bigot.
4. If X is a Constitutional right, how can we deny it to the poor? Taxpayer money must be given to people to get X.
5. The Constitution requires that taxpayer money be given to people to get X.
6. People who refuse to participate in X are criminals.
7. People who publicly disagree with X are criminals.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Meth and BBQ? Those don't generally go together.

[PapayaSF]

Sadly true.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...an anti-Spanish conspiracy.

BUILD THE DAMN FENCE.

[buybuydandavis]

Where are the shrieks of "RACISM RACISM RACISM" against the administration for accusing a Democratic Hispanic senator of a crime?

But I kid. Progressives can't be racist. No sir. Only Republicans can do that.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

According to precedent, beating a fellow Congresscritter with a cane is not enough to warrant expulsion

[Xeones]

If only the precedent of Congresscritters beating each other with canes had caught on.

[R C Dean]

Expulsion? Hell, that should get you a medal.

Speaking of which, I wonder if we'll ever know who beat the shit out Reid. No way you get those injuries exercising.

Anyhoo, whoever did it should get a medal.

[gaoxiaen]

In Taiwan they take legislating seriously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opm3zMscStE

[Vampire]

"According to the Senate Historical Office, only four senators have ever been convicted of crimes while in office."

That's a major peoblem. But why would criminals prosecute criminals anyway? Unless that is, they get in the way.

[RJ The Terrible]

The weak and dumb are culled. Thereby breeding a better class of crminal

[Vampire]

*problem.....

[Gorthan]

So I've been checking in on and sometimes participating in the Reason comments section since about 2004. I've come back recently (late 2014)after an absence of about 2 years. . . and at some point during the time I was gone there seems to have been a massive influx of exceptionally strident conservative types congregating here. So what gives? The commentary here used to be exceptionally, well, um, libertarian . . . as well as funny, entertaining, witty, etc. I still see some of that, but it seems to be diluted by a high level of "Gimme Moar Team Red!" kind of shit. Christ on a cracker, what happened?

[Xeones]

El Ni?o, maybe?

[jay_dubya]

dude Im in the same boat. Started reading around 2006. I never used to comment but I started just to try to be a counterweight to the partisan dumbfuckery.

[Xeones]

It's definitely El Ni?o.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Anyone that doesn't put on the Team Red colors is harassed. They even attack Nick and other Reason writers.

As for me - I don't give a fuck. i like to point out their hypocrisy and stupidity.

[Gorthan]

Thanks to you, and jay_dubya for validating my observation. I suppose this may be due to Reason's success, especially as their work has been showcased in larger conservative venues, thus attracting a portion of that audience. I like your dgaf attitude, and applaud your efforts in fighting the Red vs. Blue chicanery. I've also noticed that doing so earns the "left-wing/progressive" label every time, because they are incapable of conceptualizing anything outside of the linear political paradigm. Sad, really.

[bacon-magic]

Butt is a left-wing/progressive. But continue with "the REDS are coming!" rant. It's not like LIbertarians should be inclusive of people that embrace N.A.P. or anything...

[bacon-magic]

Yes, I am on the conservative Libertarian side. Braveheart is my favorite movie and I like to order American food at chinese restaurants. (kidding about the food, I luvs the dumplings)

[bacon-magic]

You left this sight to be indoctrinated in the Progressive Bootlicker Bootcamp. Now you have all the talking points you need to smash team red. You go girl.

[Palin's Buttplug]

And you're full of shit. I am a secular capitalist Hayek liberal. Remember Hayek had no love of conservatives either. He portrayed you guys as slow witted and banal.

Which you are.

[Sevo]

You're a lying piece af partisan shit. If you didn't have Obo's ass to lick, you'd have nothing to do for half the day.
Fuck off.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Eat shit, Sevo. You are a Team Red partisan Newt Gingrich-Rick Santorum clone.

[XM]

Gah, the only person here who's full of shit is you. If someone lied about Hitler eating babies, it still doesn't take away from the fact he was a mass murderer. A dem politician is indicted of fraud, and your objective is to find some angle to attack conservatives.

The DC, Univision, Washington Post and other media outlets reported on that prostitution scandal. Univision and DC has denied that they paid anyone. And Menendez isn't being indicted on some fresh new accusation.

Let me remind you that your progressive friends moan and groan that everything around them is racist, from Hollywood to Universities to banks, and yet throw buckets of money at them. Boycotts? I don't think so. Apple and Hollywood make a killing in countries notorious for their human rights violation.

Talk about of hypocrisy.

[DK]

Gorthan, if you were around pre-2012, you would know "Palin's Buttplug" as "shrike".

[Palin's Buttplug]

True. I lost the email account for that name. For real.

I love the literary dimensions of that word.

[deepspeed]

"...applaud your efforts in fighting the Red vs. Blue chicanery."

Please tell me you're joking.

[R C Dean]

They even attack Nick and other Reason writers.

Oh, horseshit. While we certainly enjoy a good Reason writer beat-down, in my case it mostly happens when they are being too deferential to idiot proggy and SJW assumptions and assertions. Not because they are too Dem or not enough Repub.

You're a simple-minded little thing, aren't you?

[gaoxiaen]

I just look for an opportunity to post something rude and/or offensive. Sometimes a (somewhat) relevant Youtube clip.

[R C Dean]

I think what you're seeing probably isn't so much "Yay TEAM RED" (which I don't see a lot of, to tell you the truth). I mean, who around here is praising Repubs qua Repubs? The closest you'll get is probably the ritual debate over voting/not voting and third party/throwing your vote away.

What you're probably seeing is the commentariat getting sucked into culture war SJW crap. Reason's writers have a bit of blind spot there, IMO, and tend to uncritically share the SJW-ish assumptions and tropes, creating some commenter blowback. I

Its hard to object to SJW culture war crap without finding yourself on the same side as the SJW's mortal enemies, the so-cons. Many here have a hard time distinguishing between "These SJWs are morons because liberty" and "These SJWs are morons because morals".

[Palin's Buttplug]

C'mon RC. You're one of the more honest posters here but you go all Team Red whenever Reason or myself bring up the trillion dollar deficits Bush left. You deny he did such. Why? The numbers don't lie. The CBO put him at a $1.2 trillion deficit while in office.

I have to conclude you want to defend him or the GOP.

[MarkLastname]

You do realize that you're being about as thoroughly a left-wing partisan as is possible right now, right? You are busy worrying about a trillion dollar deficit under Bush from 7 years ago during a deep recession (Obama also ran trillion dollar deficits in the thick of the recession, but it's ok when he does it I guess) than the current half trillion dollar deficit on its way to being a trillion dollar deficit in a few years during what is supposed to be a good economic time! For what? Free community college and the Ex-Im bank?

Listen to yourself, for Christ's sake! It's 2015 and your still having a tantrum over Bush to distract everyone from the fuck ups of the current president. As usual, guy ranting about 'partisan wing nuts' turns out to fit the definition of the term 'part wing nut.'

[R C Dean]

you go all Team Red whenever Reason or myself bring up the trillion dollar deficits Bush left

There's your mistake. Criticizing Obama's spending, and trying to get some honesty in accounting, is not praising Team Red. Believe it or not, its not a binary world, where if you don't uncritically trumpet Team Blue's virtues, you must be Team Red.

My problem is mostly with giving all of the FY 2009 deficit to Bush is HE WASN"T PRESIDENT FOR MOST OF FY 2009, and massive spending bills were passed after he left office in January.

Believe it or not, its possible to criticize Obama without defending Bush.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The CBO said the deficit would be $1.2 trillion while Bush was still president. It had nothing to do with Obama.

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: January 7, 2009: 5:00 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The U.S. budget deficit in 2009 is projected to spike to a record $1.2 trillion, or 8.3% of gross domestic product, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

The dramatic jump to the highest-ever deficit in dollar terms compares to a $455 billion deficit in fiscal year 2008 and $161 billion in 2007. The estimate does not account for the massive spending and tax cuts proposed in President-elect Barack Obama's economic rescue plan.

[XM]

But Obama was the president, and he did all the things Bush did.

[Puddin' Stick]

Not no mention that the Federal government uses cash accounting instead of accrual accounting...

[MarkLastname]

"Believe it or not, its possible to criticize Obama without defending Bush."
Clearly, you don'y live on a university campus. Of course, you can still criticize Obama for being too white, too male, and not retarded enough. By retarded I mean socialist, of course.

[MarkLastname]

Err, have you been out of the country the last six years?

I suppose you would ask someone in 1944 while storming the beaches of Normandy, "Why is everyone so excited about the Germans? You guys aren't worried enough about the Russians!" Circumstances dictate priority, and there's currently a giant D in the white house.

[Akira]

"there's currently a giant D in the white house."

You got THAT right...

[Lord at War]

Christ on a cracker, what happened?

Most of the "left" libertarians disappeared because they couldn't defend Obama anymore.

See JoePBoyle (suddenly back as Jackand Ass), Thoreau, Jen (aka feral genius) and her ignorant squeeze (too drunk to remember his handle), they fired Dave (tea-fucking ratbagger) Weigel, and we're getting great examples everyday just how pathetic the "left" is when they are in power.

I don't know that there are any "regulars" that are "strident" cons- John is a "conservatarian", GKC/Eddie is a Catholic proselytizer, and cytotoxic is a Randian Canuckistani w/ a warboner.

Do I need to go on?

[RJ The Terrible]

This is Obama doing what he does best. The DOJ & IRS are now but political arms of the Democrat party, Obama wing. The fact the Lerner is not being indicted, nor Hilary, tells us all we need to know.

The fact that the buttplug is hear is but confirmation that Obumbles the Magnificent is once again rare form, wiping his ass with the constitution and raping the goddess of justice all at the same time.

I am not against this prosecution, except it is missing about 99 other senators, 435 congressmen, 9 Justices, some 50 czars, 15 cabinet posts and a building or two of lobbyists.

Can we just return DC to the Catawba Indians?

[RJ The Terrible]

Oh. Top billing on the affidavit should go to Obumbles himself and or course, that paragon of intellect ... Joe Biden.

[Mike M.]

By the way, we're now officially halfway through the fiscal year, and so far we've already accumulated over $300 billion in publicly held debt.

What were they originally telling us the deficit was going to be this year again? Because I'm pretty sure it wasn't $600 billion.

[Palin's Buttplug]

February and March are tax refund time, you retard. They are always high in general fund outflow thus require more borrowing than other months.

[MarkLastname]

You tell him! No racist hick is gonna criticize my president and get away with it!

[XM]

God, borrowing is still borrowing. Spending is still spending.

[JPyrate]

Let me get this straight. The Government needs to borrow money in order to pay back an interest free loan.

You are okay with this, because TEAM ?

[PusaAtDaga]

Official accounting does not include interest on the debt in the deficit. That and a few other accounting tricks create a discrepancy between the deficit and the debt.

[bacon-magic]

I have been reading the buttplug...and the only thing that makes sense is the "made in china " sticker on him/her/shim/shill/it/whatever.

[bacon-magic]

I have been reading the buttplug...and the only thing that makes sense is the "made in china " sticker on him/her/shim/shill/it/whatever.

[Neha Sharma]

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[CapitalStars Financial]

yes i read your post really it is good focus on department of justice. keep it up.....

[lorettalofton]

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[Dances-with-Trolls]

It's a way of making sure that everyone's cousin-brothers have their needs met at the same place.