LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Twice-indicted U.S. Democratic Senator Robert (Bob) Menendez (D-New Jersey) took to the Senate chamber floor on Tuesday to defend himself against corruption charges. Along the way, he warned his fellow colleagues that if he goes down, they all go down.
Many of the words he spoke during his approximately 20-minute speech were aimed at his colleagues and others in politics including when he said that if he is nabbed on what they’re accusing him of, it sets a “dangerous precedent to all of you.”
What is the senator accused of doing?
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Sen. Menendez was originally charged with bribery and then was indicted for conspiracy to act as a foreign agent. According to USA Today, his alleged bribes allegedly include “Cash, gold bars, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job and a Mercedes-Benz.” The media report added, “More than $480,000 in cash was found stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe at Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs home.”
The senator defended himself against the charges regarding aiding the Qatar and Egypt’s governments in exchange for cash and gifts. He did so by throwing his fellow politicians under the bus during his emotional and defiant speech. He claimed that what they all do constitutes “diplomacy” and that making introductions to their constituents and going to state-sponsored events is part of their job.
Sen. Menendez declares his innocence and says all senators do this kind of work.
“On this point, the suggestion that an introduction of a constituent to a Qatari investment company is illegal is not only wrong as a matter of law, it is dangerous to the important work all of us, as senators do” Sen. Menendez said.
The senator continued, “Under the government’s theory, it may be a crime for members of the senate to make introductions to companies, constituents in their own state, to foster investments in their state, investments that create jobs and rateables and revenues that help grow the economy.”
Could others be in trouble if Sen. Menendez is found guilty?
Sen. Menendez even took aim at politicians like Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer when he continued to say “Indeed, if that is a crime then advocating for Boeing aircraft to be purchased by a foreign government, attracting a foreign chip manufacturer to your state, getting a country to buy agricultural products from your state, making technology investments and so many other actions that members of congress take to attract investment and economic opportunity to their states would now be a crime.”
A dangerous precedent could be set.
The lawmaker said that he was fighting not just for himself but also future precedent. He also lashed out against others in the senate who he feels are not giving him due process and pronouncing him guilty and asking him to resign, including some senate Democrats. Sen. Menendez also accused the government of poisoning the jury pool and seeking to convict him in the court of public opinion and said the prosecutor’s office is engaged “not in a prosecution but a persecution” and that it wants a “victory, not justice.”
Senators are not beneath the law and should be able to do their job.
Sen. Menendez said that those in the senate are not above the law “but not beneath it either.” He added that he’s not always been a friend to Qatar and Egypt over their human rights abuses and has called them out on their unsavory behavior.
He explained that using both a carrot and a stick, cajoling and rewarding other countries is “the essence of diplomacy. It is the job we all partake in every day as part of our duties in the senate.”
Sen. Menendez has refused to resign saying, “I will not step aside and allow those things to happen in the name of political expediency. I have never chosen the easy path—never have, never will, and will not do so now. I simply asked for justice to be allowed to work his way.”
The senator has, however, surrendered his chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee until the case is resolved. A May trial date has been set for the senator.
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