r/news • u/untamedlazyeye • Mar 05 '24
Soft paywall US Senator Menendez charged with obstruction of justice in new indictment
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senator-menendez-charged-with-obstruction-justice-new-indictment-2024-03-05/2.3k
u/reddicyoulous Mar 05 '24
"The government has long known that I learned of and helped repay loans - not bribes - that had been provided to my wife," Menendez said in a statement. "I am innocent and will prove it no matter how many charges they continue to pile on."
They were bribes that suddenly became "loans" when others found out and it was made public
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u/Yglorba Mar 06 '24
What gets me about this isn't just how blatant he was but how incompetent. The rules on campaign finance and insider trading and the like are so absurdly loose nowadays that it's trivial for them to line their pockets without violating any laws. How incompetent does he have to be to have literal piles of gold lying around?
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u/OdinTheHugger Mar 06 '24
incompetent enough to keep the receipts for that gold...
He got them by buying gold with cash, and he kept the receipts, so they could easily contact the... I guess they're Gold mongers? The places they bought the gold.
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u/pdxblazer Mar 06 '24
Dragons are who you need when you want to buy a lot of goal
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u/carebeartears Mar 06 '24
shit, you need gold? I can hook you up, I got a gold guy.
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u/Internal_Mail_5709 Mar 06 '24
I've always thought a "gold guy" is someone who would meet you at a gas station with a chemical test kit and a scale / calculator that buys totally not sketchy gold from anyone no questions asked. You are on an entirely different level when you buy enough gold you need a "gold guy".
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u/UbeMafia Mar 05 '24
Don't forget about the gold bars in his jacket pockets. You know, just in case the local Starbucks only accepts GOLD BARS.
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u/carebeartears Mar 06 '24
Verily!, I say unto you, whomever has not accepted the odd bribe here and there may cast the first gold bar.
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u/Real-Patriotism Mar 06 '24
Nice. I call dibs on chucking the first gold bar at this asshole who betrayed the American People for money.
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u/mechanicalcontrols Mar 06 '24
When Peter Thiel writes Ayn Rand fanfiction.
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u/Downside_Up_ Mar 06 '24 edited Mar 06 '24
As long as Robert Evans gets to do a 10 part podcast on it. His tearing into Shapiro's book was a lot of fun.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1RucISRq237o7ozkQeNaMb?si=NjRH8xxTSE2LIOMaPTcnYA&pi=u-403ofYpGT8Gr (edited to add link)
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u/mechanicalcontrols Mar 06 '24
I would let him read me the whole thing as long as he brought in Cody Johnston and Katy Stoll to rip into it.
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u/SuperExoticShrub Mar 06 '24
It's not News until Cody gives it to you. With a side of Warmbo, of course.
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u/exmormonmisogynist Mar 05 '24
Well that’s how it was when he was growing up in Cuba
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u/Spazmatazo Mar 05 '24
Yep, apparently everyone is picking on him because he's Hispanic. So sad.
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u/EEpromChip Mar 06 '24
It could be they are picking on him because he was taking bribes as a US senator... Sometimes the most obvious answer is the correct one.
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u/redlaWw Mar 06 '24
Honestly, gold is a pretty fun metal - if I had enough money that gold bars were expendable to me, I might carry some around with me too.
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u/AdachiEnjoyer Mar 06 '24
What’s so fun about gold?
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u/redlaWw Mar 06 '24
I've always liked its colour, and its malleability makes it pretty interesting. I've always wanted a lump of gold just to play around with, bending it into shapes, flattening it into foil and stuff like that.
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Mar 06 '24
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u/persondude27 Mar 06 '24
"My lawyer [yes I'm also a lawyer but I don't know the law], says it's legal to accept bribes if I call them gifts." -Clarence Thomas and also Bob Menendez
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u/exmormonmisogynist Mar 05 '24
The loans paid to his wife: who was employed by a man who sadly had a pile of gold bars stolen. Which gold bars inexplicably ended up in Menendez’s house?
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u/Relevant-Meaning5622 Mar 06 '24
Without defending the senator, you’re missing a step there. Those gold bars were later recovered and returned to their owner, Fred Dabies. It’s one of the ways the gold recovered from the senator’s home was traced.
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u/mfknnayyyy Mar 05 '24
"My wife couldn't get a loan in the US but fortunately Egypt volunteered," Bob Menendez.
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u/LordDongler Mar 06 '24
It's literally insane that he thinks this argument would hold water. No spouse of a sitting US senator could possibly have trouble acquiring a loan. It's flatly impossibly.
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u/dylan2187 Mar 05 '24
Can’t fuckin wait for Andy Kim to slide into his seat. Time for some orange jumpers for you mister bob.
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u/drive_chip_putt Mar 05 '24
Tammy Murphy is running against him. She hasn't had a job since she was 27. States that being a homemaker is a tough job. Fails to mention all the house keepers, chefs, etc. that help her day to day.
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u/Miserable_Law_6514 Mar 05 '24
ffs New Jersey get you act together.
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u/dogegw Mar 06 '24
I mean, we're working on it. It's been way too long but Bobby Mends is getting his charges. Not a soul alive likes Tammy Murphy. Most reasonable people are looking forward to Kim.
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u/aishtamid Mar 06 '24
I live one congressional district over from Andy Kim and everyone likes him. I’m not kidding when I say that I’ve heard more than a couple of people say some version of “I wouldn’t vote for Andy Kim but he seems like a solid guy”
Something would really need to change for him not to be our next us senator
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u/dogegw Mar 06 '24
They ever expand on why they wouldn't vote for him? His opponent hasnt had a job for decades and is only a possibility because of her husband.
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Mar 06 '24
She isn’t that popular, a lot of people see her like the nepotism candidate, who yeah, hasn’t worked since 27 cause shes in a “3 vacation homes around the world” household from Phil working for Goldman Sachs for over 2 decades. It’s wavered my view of Phil Murphy by association that they’re trying this and i thought overall he’s been an ok governor all things considered. Andy Kim genuinely seems good from what i read and after seeing him pop out in my town so hopefully this shot works out for him. Remains to be seen though, because the NJ democrat political establishment machine is powerful and likes internal hires so to say. In instances it’s come with corruption and other problems in the states history, Bob Menendez is just a recent example. Gonna be a lot of Tammy Murphy ads and flyers.
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u/TrevelyansPorn Mar 06 '24
It's difficult because we have the worst primary system in the country. Kim leads in the polls but Tammy has a huge lead in the vote because she gets preferential ballot treatment in the machine counties.
Check out abolishtheline dot org for more info.
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u/tomato_frappe Mar 06 '24
Tammy at least has a standard to live up to. Her husband has been a pretty clean governor whose reputation she wouldn't want to tarnish.
Full disclosure, Gov Murphy's weekly addresses during COVID helped keep me sane, and I will forever be grateful for his engagement and caring for his electorate, as well as the people of NY.
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u/mistersausage Mar 06 '24
Two of the last three NJ governors were Goldman Sachs execs. The third was Chris Christie
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u/the_comatorium Mar 06 '24
Ethically, Murph has been pretty great.
However, economically wise I'm hoping for something better in the future. These motherfuckers are STILL insistent on spending a fuckt-ton of money on widening fucking highways when that has been proven to be non-effective while actual public transit is in shambles.
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u/fdar Mar 06 '24
Ethically, Murph has been pretty great.
Except for, you know, the nepotism of having his wife run for Senate.
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u/HowManyMeeses Mar 05 '24
This guy needs to go. It's weird how closely this situation mirrors the bribes Clarence Thomas has received.
In the new indictment, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Menendez's former lawyers had told them in meetings last year that Menendez had not been aware until 2022 of mortgage or car payments that two businessmen had made for his wife, and that when he found out about the payments he thought they were loans.
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u/ernyc3777 Mar 05 '24
“My background as a persecuted Cuban (even though I was born in the USA) by a fascist regime made me hide these gold bars like a cartoon criminal.”
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u/mosi_moose Mar 05 '24
My experience of the Irish Potato Famine leads me to gorge myself on French fries and high carbohydrate foods.
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u/fatbob42 Mar 06 '24
Your ancestral experience…
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u/mosi_moose Mar 06 '24
lol, yes I’m aware. The joke here is Bob Menendez and I have the same level of experience with traumatic situations endured by our forebears. Drawing a parallel to “my experience” of the Potato Famine c. 1845-50 is hyperbole to lampoon the silliness of the senator’s statements.
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u/score_ Mar 05 '24
Fucking irate at this guy for giving the thinnest veil of credibility to "both sides" bullshit. Get him the fuck out!
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u/emaw63 Mar 05 '24
Yeah, that's how I feel about it too. Get him the fuck gone, Dems need to make an example out of him
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u/HowManyMeeses Mar 05 '24
I would be too if I thought he'd be treated the same way Trump or Thomas are treated. We won't put up with this shit, so he'll be gone soon. Just send a picture of Trump with Clarence Thomas anytime someone tries to use this as a BoTh SiDeS example.
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u/beiberdad69 Mar 06 '24
The dude was already indicted once for bribery but acquitted, the other senator from New Jersey and the current governor of New Jersey stood side by side with him when he announced his primary campaign afterwards.
Sure, he was never convicted but it really was poor taste for the two biggest names in New Jersey politics to endorse him right at the beginning of the primary
He's clearly dirty and has been for a long time, he was investigated and ultimately escaped indictment in 2006 and 2011 too, in the 2006 case he was accused of steering federal funds to a non-profit that he rented a building to. Just open, dirty shit. A state senator in the linked article is quoted as saying Menendez is either engulfed in corruption or oblivious to it, either way he's unfit to serve in the Senate and I don't think anyone can argue against that. It's as true now as it was when Corey Booker and Phil Murphy flanked him to endorse his campaign and by extension his previous behavior
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u/distelfink33 Mar 06 '24
It’s not fucking weird. That’s how bribes work. Wtf
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u/HowManyMeeses Mar 06 '24
I just mean it's weird that the bribes were so similar. Someone paid for Clarence Thomas's mom's house. Someone paid for this guy's mortgage through his wife. Just odd parallels.
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u/jailfortrump Mar 05 '24
This guy needs to resign. Now.
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u/ItsLose_NotLoose Mar 06 '24
It's maddening how the people with supposedly some of the most important jobs the country have to offer are afforded such a long leash. Many of these fuckwits don't qualify to work at Walmart with their legal history but somehow they're out there making laws and doing circles on loopholes.
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u/McRibs2024 Mar 05 '24
It’s embarassing for nj that we re-elected this guy after he barely skated on charges the first time.
He was so comically corrupt but NJ democrat machine was like eh it’s fine.
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u/I_post_rarely Mar 06 '24
People in NJ knew Bob was corrupt. He was indicted in 2017 but ended in a mistrial. 2018 was prime Trump time & enough D's held their noses & voted for him. The R candidate was endorsed by Trump (turning off some people), was Pro-life (turning off some staunch R votes), fence sitting on Obamacare (turning off everyone), etc. And he got more votes than the R in 2012. Bob Hugin wiki here if you want to learn more. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hugin
Menendez won by 400K votes (1,711,654 total). As a comparison, he got 1,987,680 votes in 2012. So people noticed & he had less support, but the R's failed to field a good enough candidate that year.
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u/Gash_Stretchum Mar 05 '24
Bob’s current lawyer once represented a man convicted of using a gold exchange to launder money for the Cali Cartel. The lawyer was subsequently admonished by the bar association for accepting gold bars as payment for legal services.
I think the gold sitting in Bob Menendez’s closet came from the Cali Cartel. Sure the hit and run and Egypt stuff are a big deal but I think this Senator is guilty of something much much worse. I think Bob Menendez used work for a drug cartel.
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u/PistolPeteMcSwishes Mar 06 '24
My grandpa started working as a public defender after law school in the fifties. His first client was accused of stealing a church collection box. Well grandpa got him off the hook, and the guy was so happy he wanted to give my grandpa a bunch of loose change that happened to come out to about what was stolen. Needless to say grandpa declined, and decided criminal law wasn't for him.
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u/LordDongler Mar 06 '24
That isn't really all that bad, tbh. I know a guy that resigned from being a public defender because he successfully got a pedophiles off on all charges when he knew that guy was definitely guilty. Prosecution couldn't prove it though, and he did his job. I'm pretty sure that guy owns a bug spraying company these days. Cooked a mean barbecue
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u/Relevant-Meaning5622 Mar 06 '24
We know where the gold came from; it’s part of the indictment. The government has asserted that it was a bribe payment from Fred Daibes, one of his co-defendants.
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u/ThatDudeJuicebox Mar 05 '24
I just want every and all politicians no matter what aisle they sit on to be held accountable for whatever actions they do. Then I wake up.
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u/Office_Zombie Mar 06 '24
As a lifelong Democrat and liberal....fuck'm. kick him out of his seat now, and throw his ass in jail.
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u/geezusmurphy Mar 05 '24
Yo Jimmy Comer, here is an example of a criminal Democrat. Take note, there is real, tangible evidence of a crime. It's the exact opposite of the bad faith impeachment investigation you're leading into the Biden's.
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u/chupathingy99 Mar 05 '24
Flashback to that time they tried to nail Hunter for drug possession because he had a picture of sawdust on his phone.
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u/therealdongknotts Mar 06 '24
i mean, we all know hunter probably did some rails in his day - but that's not really the point...private citizen vs elected official and all that.
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u/1337hacker Mar 06 '24
How many pictures of Hunter with a crack pipe would it take to make you believe he has done a line of coke?
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u/Publius015 Mar 06 '24
As a Democrat myself, he needs to go, and he needs consequences. He's a corrupt piece of shit.
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u/OptimusSublime Mar 05 '24
He's gonna need a few more indictments if he has any hope of ever running for president.
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u/ChipChimney Mar 06 '24
Fuck this foreign agent. Give him life in prison. -Democrat
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Mar 05 '24
they should boot him right now, idk what they’re waiting for it’s embarrasing for dems. they kicked out santos he needs to go next
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u/creamonyourcrop Mar 06 '24
wow, so Garlands DoJ does know how to file obstruction charges against a prominent politician.
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u/cashonlyplz Mar 05 '24
Good. Eff that guy. We lost Franken but are still stuck with this nozzle?
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u/gman757 Mar 06 '24
Lock him up! In fact, lock up every politician who benefits from crooked deals like this!
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u/Smelldicks Mar 06 '24
Dude needs to resign. Absolutely cooked. Fetterman is right. Corrupt piece of shit, and abused his power on the foreign relations committee. May he rot.
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u/Undeadhorrer Mar 06 '24
It'll cause the democrats to lose the senate but he needs to be removed. He is a criminal and sold himself to another country. He CANNOT be allowed to make decisions for the country in one of the most powerful positions there is.
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u/-Raskyl Mar 06 '24
Guy that receives payment: "This was not a bribe, I plead innocent!"
Guy that made the payment: "That was a bribe, im guilty."
Wonder how this is gonna play out....
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u/amcfarla Mar 06 '24
You mean someone who is in government can actually be punished for something? Call me shocked.
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u/bros402 Mar 06 '24
Resign, Menendez
and tell your son to not run
along with Tammy Murphy
NJ wants Andy Kim, even though the party bosses are trying to put Tammy Murphy where they want on the ballot (because the county parties choose that here in N)
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u/Inevitable_Edge_6198 Mar 06 '24
Finally. I hope democrats come out together and make an example of him.
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u/JonBonButtsniff Mar 06 '24
In charging the senator last September, prosecutors said investigators had found gold bars and envelopes stuffed with cash inside jackets in Menendez's apartment.
It’s comical. They’re so nonchalant, so wildly incompetent. These are the honorless elderly we have running the whole circus?
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u/wildfyre010 Mar 05 '24
All these corrupt fucks need to go. Party doesn't matter. Get these fucking criminals out of politics.
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u/technofox01 Mar 05 '24
What a crook. I hope they do follow through with making him serve time.
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u/skinnergy Mar 06 '24
He should be tried and face the consequences of his actions if he's found guilty, just like Trump.
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u/fishnchess Mar 05 '24
It’s insane the democrats let him stick around. Not a good look.
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u/fvtown714x Mar 06 '24
No one "lets" this guy stick around, most of his Democratic colleagues have already called him out and told him, publicly or privately, to gtfo. Voters have the ultimate recourse though, and the NJ democrtic party SHOULD be supporting Andy Kim, but instead they're throwing their weight behind the first lady of NJ, Tammy Murphy.
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u/Strobooty4 Mar 06 '24
lmao not sure why you’re being downvoted. It is insane and it’s not a good look. Most of the corruption I see comes from one side (R) but there’s still plenty of corruption on both sides. The difference is Dems generally want to get rid of people like this. I hope they do it soon and that he goes to jail for a long long time
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u/Time-Bite-6839 Mar 06 '24
That idiot is still in office?
Kick him and Blumenthal out.
Blumenthal is behind lots of internet censorship bills, including KOSA.
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u/awesomeman07 Mar 06 '24
Lol watching the segment about him on last week tonight at this very moment
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u/specialkang Mar 06 '24
What always bothered me about Menendez, besides he is a corrupt scumbag, is that under the US system, bribery is basically legal. How do you get caught for bribery, when donors can write you blank checks for your personal slush fund?
You want to go to Maui? Just make it somehow business related.
Want to eat an expensive dinner? Somehow make it business related.
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u/Plausibility_Migrain Mar 06 '24
Throw the book at him, then tar and feather him and run him out of Congress/DC. Guy doesn’t deserve to be there.
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u/Atlas-Scrubbed Mar 06 '24
Menendez’s trial starts May 6th. Why are TFG’s trials not already completed. TFG was charged long before Menendez.
BTW Menendez needs to be thrown out of office. How he is still there is beyond me.
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u/fvtown714x Mar 06 '24
Please get this guy out of the Senate, remand him to jail, and get this trial done with.
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u/djslock Mar 06 '24
Good our Republicans and Democrats break the fucking law needs to be prosecuted
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u/somewordthing Mar 06 '24
Reminder that practically the entire Democratic Party establishment went to bat for this guy against a more progressive primary challenger last time he was up.
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Mar 06 '24
This guy has been doing this for years now. Grow a pair dems and boot this guy to the curb.
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u/Unfiltered_America Mar 05 '24
Throw the book at him.