The best hope is that Biden will urge Menendez to pick someone else, perhaps by arguing that Suarez’s confirmation hearing would be an embarrassment, potentially a big one.
Menendez pick for U.S. Attorney is a ripe target for GOP skewering | Moran
Several sources say that U.S. Robert Menendez (D-N.J) has asked President Joe Biden to nominate Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez as the next U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. Here, Menendez listens to speakers during a rally to defend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) on Wednesday outside of the Peter W. Rodino Federal Building in Newark. September 6, 2017 (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) Patti SaponePatti Sapone
The long list of reasons to urgently oppose the nomination of Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez as the next chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey is getting longer by the day, as scrutiny grows.
We already know that she has no federal experience, that she paid a big penalty for breaking campaign finance laws, that she was chief counsel for years to a notoriously corrupt party boss in Bergen County, and that she famously mishandled the case of Katie Brennan, who said she was raped by a senior staffer in Gov. Phil Murphy’s 2017 campaign.
Now, there’s more. A female detective who worked for Suarez, Erin Rubas, filed a lawsuit in 2018 claiming that Suarez denied her promotions because she was pregnant, then punished her for complaining. The case is pending, and Suarez denies wrongdoing. But you can bet that if she is nominated, Republican senators will invite Rubas to testify about every detail -- once Katie Brennan is done.
The retaliation, according to the lawsuit, included depriving her of a work vehicle, confiscation of crime scene equipment, disclosing private medical information, and attempting to cut her on-call pay.
Another new twist: Suarez resisted the state’s efforts to remove the man leading her investigative team, Gennaro Rubino, who was not qualified for the job because he had not completed mandated training programs. Her superiors at the state Division of Criminal Justice notified Suarez of this several times over two years, and finally went over her head in February of 2019 to remove Rubino from the job by direct order from Trenton.
“Simply put, he has not satisfied the statutorily mandated training requirement, does not meet the definition of county detective pursuant to the statute, and therefore cannot serve in the position of Chief of Detectives,” wrote DCJ director Veronica Allende.
Personally, I find it hard to blame Suarez for accepting the post of U.S. Attorney if she can get it. It is one of the most important handful of public jobs in New Jersey, along with the governor, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and the attorney general.
To me, this is on Sen. Robert Menendez, the state’s senior senator, who by tradition offers a name to the White House for nomination to this post. It’s also on Sen. Cory Booker, who could block the nomination on his own. Both are refusing to say a word about Suarez.
Folks, that is just wrong. Our senators should be telling us what they’re thinking, taking comments from the public, from the many lawyers and judges who know Suarez, and are best able to judge the severity of her shortcomings. Several have expressed deep concern to me about her lack of qualifications but don’t want to provoke a woman who could well be the next federal prosecutor.
The best hope is that Biden will urge Menendez to pick someone else, perhaps by arguing that Suarez’s confirmation hearing would be an embarrassment, potentially a big one.
Suarez’s lack of experience in federal law enforcement means she’d have to master a new set of laws and procedures on the fly. Her failure to report campaign donations when she served as treasurer of a political group in Hudson County drew a fine of $9,325 from the Election Law Enforcement Commission in 2004. That means voters had to cast ballots on a measure to preserve Union City Mayor Brian Stack’s power to appoint members of the school board without knowing who financed the campaign. What’s her excuse for that, GOP senators will want to know?
Her service as counsel to Joe Ferriero, the corrupt chairman of Bergen County Democrats who was imprisoned after a conviction for taking bribes, is not criminal or unethical. But Republicans will want to know why she chose to work as counsel to Ferriero before he was charged with any crime, at a time when he was the poster boy who inspired the state’s pay-to-play reforms after raising huge sums from firms that did business with Bergen County?
The Brennan case is another stain. Suarez knew the accused, Al Alvarez, who was not charged in the case. But Suarez didn’t switch the case to another county as she should have, saying she had no idea Alvarez was under investigation. When e-mails later showed she was copied on memos discussing evidence in the case, she said she never read them. Is that the kind of sloppy management she’ll bring to the U.S Attorneys’ office? That’s another good question for Republicans.
Menendez and Booker seem ready to cut a deal in the back hallway, without hearing a peep from the public. And Biden may go along with them to avoid picking a fight with Menendez, especially, the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations in the evenly-split Senate.
So, the best hope lies with Biden. Perhaps he can coax Menendez into choosing someone else, preferably one of the many better qualified lawyers out there, many of them women or minorities, or both. It would serve the people of New Jersey better. And it would avoid the certain embarrassment of a confirmation hearing where Suarez’s record will face withering scrutiny, for good reason.
Menendez's relationship with Alarcón made national news in 2013. As a member of the House a decade earlier, Menendez gave congressional testimony and proposed legislation to block a merger between Univision and the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. Alarcón opposed the merger, saying it would be the "last nail in the coffin" for Hispanic media ownership.
SENATOR BOB MENENDEZ: A POLITICAL LIFE OF CORRUPTION - BUT HOW DOES THAT MAKE HIM DIFFERENT THAN ANY OTHER LIFER DEMOCRAT POLICIAN?
Robert Menendez (/ m ɛ ˈ n ɛ n d ɛ z /; born January 1, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States Senator from New Jersey, a seat he has held since 2006. A member of the Democratic Party , he was first appointed to the U.S. Senate by Governor Jon Corzine , and chaired the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 2013 to 2015, and again since 2021.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQZVF11RcQw
Sen. Robert Menendez Indicted On Corruption Charges | NBC Nightly News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQVVN2bam9g
Pompeo is Right; Menendez is a Crook, but How Did He Get Off?
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Senator Robert Menedez (D-NJ) of orchestrating the controversy over the firing of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.
Pompeo said. “I don’t get my ethics guidance from a man who was criminally prosecuted — case number 15-155, New Jersey Federal District Court. A man for whom his Senate colleagues, bipartisan said basically that he was taking bribes. That’s not someone who I look to for ethics guidance.”
Pompeo is right. Menendez is a crook. He should have been forced out of the Senate and gone to jail with his co-defendant Salomon Melgen. But it was the Trump Justice Department that let Menendez off the hook.
As we have recounted previously, Menendez was tried on bribery and related charges, but that trial ended in a mistrial on November 16, 2017, and the Justice Department made a decision not to retry him.
The indictment against Menendez was based, in part, on information uncovered by Tom Anderson, Director of NLPC’s Government Integrity Project, and made public in a front-page New York Times story on January 31, 2013.
Why did Justice let Menendez escape after pouring so many resources into the investigation, prosecution, and trial? One explanation would be that political influence was exercised on Menendez’ behalf. Menendez’ lawyer is Abbe Lowell, who also represented Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law. Kushner and his family are longtime donors to Democratic politicians in New Jersey, including Menendez. Someone made the decision to save Menendez’ career and possibly keep him out of prison.
‘Stream of Benefits’
The Justice Department announcement was made in a one-sentence statement on January 31, 2018 citing a ruling a week earlier by the presiding judge, William Walls, throwing out several of the counts, suggesting that their case had been weakened.
In reality, Judge Walls’ ruling strengthened the prosecution’s hand. He left intact the counts related to the jet rides and other gifts, as well as Menendez’ deliberate failure to disclose them. More importantly, Walls affirmed the validity of the prosecution’s “stream of benefits” theory presented at the trial, on which its case rested.
Menendez’ lawyers had argued that this theory conflicted with the Supreme Court’s 2016 ruling in McDonnell that for a bribery conviction, there must be a quid pro quo, or a direct connection between a payment and an “official act.” Under the “stream of benefits” theory, Melgen’s favors were so extensive and frequent that proving such a direct connection would be unnecessary. Walls ruled, “The Court concludes that McDonnell is not antagonistic to the stream of benefits theory… a rational juror could find that Defendants entered into a quid pro quo agreement.”
Justice to the Rescue
Even if Menendez was acquitted on the more serious charges, it is likely that prosecutors would have gotten a conviction on Menendez’ failure to disclose his gifts from his co-defendant Dr. Salomon Melgen. A criminal conviction, even on lesser charges, would have forced Menendez to give up his seat or face calls for his expulsion.
Ethics Committee Punts, Too
With the criminal investigation over, the typically toothless Senate Committee resumed its investigation into violations of Senate rules. On April 26, 2018, it “severely admonished” Menendez and ordered him to repay the value of the gifts from Melgen and amend his disclosure forms. This was more good news for Menendez as the Committee could have recommended to the full Senate his Censure or expulsion.
Menendez failed to disclose that he owned between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of shares in Spanish Broadcasting System at the time of his testimony in 2003. The Alarcón family had also donated tens of thousands of dollars to Menendez's congressional campaign.
Menendez Received Thousands of Dollars in Wedding Gifts From Scandal-Linked Friends
Senator got $1K in gifts from New Jersey U.S. attorney hopeful
Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) and his bride received $13,000 in cash and gifts at their wedding last year, including thousands from friends linked to the senator's various political scandals and an associate who may soon be tapped to serve as U.S. attorney for New Jersey.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian, were given $9,000 in cash and $4,000 in gifts, according to filings submitted to the Senate Ethics Committee this week. The couple received $2,000 in cash and gifts from Donald Scarinci and Raúl Alarcón, longtime Menedez associates who testified for the defense at the senator's 2017 corruption trial. Menendez also received $1,000 in gifts from Philip Sellinger, a prominent Democratic fundraiser who is reported to be in the running for the U.S. attorney slot. The marriage is the second for the 67-year-old Menendez.
The disclosure is a reversal of sorts for Menendez, who was admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee in 2018 for failing to disclose tens of thousands of dollars worth of flights and vacations he received from more than a decade ago from Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor convicted on charges that he defrauded Medicare. Menendez was indicted in 2015 on charges that he accepted bribes from Melgen in exchange for political favors. The Justice Department withdrew the case in January 2018 after the jury failed to reach a verdict at trial.
As New Jersey's senior senator, Menendez will likely have influence on President Biden's selection for the state's U.S. attorney. Sellinger, an attorney at the firm Greenberg Traurig, is one of a handful of top candidates for the position, according to reports. In 2012, Sellinger hosted Biden at his home for a Menendez fundraiser.
Sellinger, Scarinci, and Alarcón have featured
to varying degrees in Menendez's numerous
political scandals.
Sellinger contributed $40,000 to Menendez's
legal defense fund in his corruption case.
Scarinci and Alarcón testified on the senator's
behalf at the corruption trial and are linked to
other Menendez scandals.
In 1999, Scarinci, a longtime New Jersey political operative, was recorded asking a New Jersey psychiatrist to do "a favor" for Menendez in order to gain "protection" for a $1 million government contract. In 2002, Menendez introduced legislation and lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to block a merger between two rivals of Alarcón's company, Spanish Broadcasting Systems. Menendez failed to disclose that he held tens of thousands of dollars in shares of Spanish Broadcasting and that Alarcón was a major campaign donor.
Scarinci gave $1,000 in cash to Menendez and Arslanian, according to Menendez's disclosure. Alarcón and Sellinger each gave $1,000 in gifts to the newlyweds.
Scarinci was a prominent figure at Menendez's trial. He testified that he solicited two donations of $300,000 from Melgen to the Senate Majority PAC in June and October 2012, which were central to the bribery charges against Menendez. He also said that he met with Melgen alongside Alarcón, who contributed $100,000 to the PAC, which was overseen at the time by then-Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.).
In August 2012, Menendez and Reid arranged to meet with then-Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius to discuss a Medicare billing policy that had cost Melgen millions of dollars in revenue.
Scarinci was not accused of any wrongdoing. The defense used him to testify that he sought the donations from Melgen on his own accord, without influence from Menendez. Prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to introduce evidence that showed Scarinci had worked for years as a middleman for Menendez.
The judge in the case declined the government's request to introduce an audio recording from 1999 in which Scarinci told New Jersey psychiatrist Oscar Sandoval that Menendez wanted him to hire another doctor, Vicente Ruiz, as a "favor." Sandoval released a tape of the conversation in 2006. He said he believed that Scarinci was threatening him to comply with Menendez's request in order to maintain a $1 million government contract.
The Menendez campaign distanced itself from Scarinci when the tape surfaced in 2006, saying that Scarinci was not acting at Menendez's behest. But Scarinci was heard on the tape saying that he intervened at Menendez’s request.
"The only reason I stuck my nose in this Ruiz thing is because Menendez asked me," Scarinci said on the tape, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Menendez's relationship with Alarcón made national news in 2013. As a member of the House a decade earlier, Menendez gave congressional testimony and proposed legislation to block a merger between Univision and the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. Alarcón opposed the merger, saying it would be the "last nail in the coffin" for Hispanic media ownership.
Menendez failed to disclose that he owned between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of shares in Spanish Broadcasting System at the time of his testimony in 2003. The Alarcón family had also donated tens of thousands of dollars to Menendez's congressional campaign.
None of the Menendez wedding guests responded to requests for comment. Menendez's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Bob Menendez Mistrial… So Get Ready To Do This All Over Again
Bob Menendez is a free man for now.
Even though the Supreme Court basically legalized corruption in the McDonnell case, the Department of Justice trudged forward in its pursuit of New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez in gloriously Quixotic fashion. Along the way, administrations changed and the Sessions team tried to turn the trial into an effort to keep one Democratic Senator from exercising his vote on contentious legislation.
Not to besmirch the true believers at the Justice Department concerned about public corruption, but there was no small tinge of partisanship with a Democratic senator facing conviction in a state governed by a lame duck Republican governor.
But alas, all that speculation was much ado about nothing. Abbe Lowell, representing Menendez, asked for a mistrial days after the jury reported that they were hopelessly deadlocked. Menendez returns to the Senate today pretty happy to learn he’s not going to be the Democrat facing a tidal wave of pressure to resign, so that’s good for him.
Senator Bob Menendez only ‘likes the youngest and newest girls’ says Dominican prostitute who 'attended alleged sex parties with him'
A shocking email posted online yesterday claims that under fire New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez had a predilection for young and inexperienced prostitutes and may have slept with a minor.
Allegedly written by a young Dominican prostitute and published by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethic in Washington (Crew), the email claims that Menendez 'likes the youngest and newest girls'.
Dating from April, the electronic exchange has been examined by the Daily Caller and according to their translators the Spanish writing indicated someone who was 'very young and unsophisticated.'
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Under fire: Menendez issued a denial yesterday against allegations that he slept with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic
The Democratic politician has been hit with a series of allegations since November that he and a prominent donor frequently traveled by private plane to the Dominican Republic where they paid multiple prostitutes to attend their sex parties.
And yesterday, Robert Menendez empahticaly denied the allegations as the FBI raided the home of donor and wealthy Florida eye doctor, Salomon Melgen, who also denies the claims.
The email is part of a chain of whistle-blowing exchanges between CREW and a concerned American citizen who claims to have knowledge of Senator Menendez and his attendance of sex parties in the Dominican Republic.
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Included in the exchange is an email from one of the girls who claims to have participated in these orgies and was paid by the senator for sex.
'In the beginning he seemed so serious, because he never spoke to anyone, but he is just like the others and has just about the same tastes as the doctor, very refined. I think they were taking us more often to get us checked [medically] because of him,' wrote the girl.
Her name is being withheld by MailOnline because she may have been a minor when her alleged encounters with Menendez occurred.
Accusations: This woman claims to have slept with Menendez for money in an interview with the Daily Caller
Scandalous: This is the second woman who says she had sex with Menendez while he was in the Dominican Republic
In her email, the young lady expresses fear at coming forward.
'I do not want to have problems with those people,” she wrote, adding that she believed 'I can trust you, that you will help us, and that nothing bad will happen to the other young girls, to me, or to my family.'
'The thing that worries me the most is that if they know that I spoke with someone they will find me,' she added.
The alleged prostitute says that she was working with a Dominican escort service called The Doll Palace and that a code word, 'chocolate' was used to summon her and other girls to Melgen's alleged sex parties.
To prove herself she gave detailed descriptions of Melgen's pimp and the houses where she slept with house guests.
The account is the most detailed since allegations emerged in November that Senator Menendez had attended sex parties in the Dominican Republic.
A screen grab of the Dolls Palace in the Dominican Republic where the woman who sent the email allegedly works
Investigation: The FBI removes boxes from the West Palm Beach, Fla. office of Dr Melgen
She is said to have told the whistle-blower who did not include her email with a cache of documents he sent to CREW on January 24th.
The DC was first to report on that dossier about Senator Menendez, which included an interview transcript in which a different woman claimed she was 16 when she began sleeping with him.
That young prostitute said she had sex with Menendez 'three times at least' in 2009.
'The first one in February, and then in May and June. I recall his visit in June so well because that month was my 17th birthday.'
Friend with a benefit? Dr Melgen gave trips on his private plane to Sen Menendez
Yesterday, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez today denied allegations of sleeping with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.
The Democratic politician was forced to issue the statement after the FBI raided the home of one of his big shot political donors, a prominent Florida eye doctor.
Dr Salomon Melgen, a contributor to Menendez and other politicians, has been suspected of providing free trips on his private plane to the Dominican Republic.
Menendez was first accused of sleeping with prostitutes on the island shortly before last November's election when the website the Daily Caller said he used Dr Melgen's plane to travel to the Dominican Republic to meet with the call girls.
He initially refused to address the report, calling it a bunch of 'fallacious allegations.'
Prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic.
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Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, did say he traveled on Dr Melgen's plane on three occasions and trips were 'paid for and reported appropriately.'
Menendez's office did not say whether the three trips were to the Dominican Republic or elsewhere.
They also did not say whether the trips were paid by Menendez personally or by his senatorial or his campaign accounts, nor did it specify how they were reported.
If Menendez did not pay for the trips, he would have to report them on annual financial disclosure forms as gifts.
If he paid for the trips from his Senate office account, he would have to report them on Senate office forms. And if he used campaign funds, he would have had to report the expense on Federal Election Commission forms.
The Associated Press searched six years of office and travel-related expenses for Menendez's U.S. Senate office and found no reports reflecting payments to Melgen or trips aboard Melgen's plane.
Luxurious: Casa de Campo, the 7,000-acre exclusive resort in the Dominican Republic, where the Senator is said to have paid $100 for sex acts
The AP also found no apparent reimbursement to Melgen in more than six years' worth of campaign expenses on file with the Federal Election Commission.
Records filed in Palm Beach County show an Internal Revenue Service lien against Dr Melgen of more than $11.1million for unpaid taxes from 2006 through 2009.
Prior liens for taxes from 1998 to 2002 were subsequently withdrawn, records show.
Despite Dr Melgen's financial problems, he and his family have contributed at least $357,000 to candidates and committees since 1998, according to Florida and federal campaign records.
Of that, the Melgens have contributed about 9 percent to Menendez’s federal campaigns, the Miami Herald reported.
Dr Melgen has become regarded as a top ophthalmologist, speaking at conferences and even operating on then Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1997.
Calls to Melgen's offices were forwarded to an answering service where receptionists told callers to try back Thursday.
Calls to Melgen's home in North Palm Beach, which is appraised at $2.1million, went unanswered.
In a statement to The New York Times on Wednesday, Dr Melgen's lawyer said: 'The government has not informed Dr Melgen what its concerns are. However, we are confident that Dr. Melgen has acted appropriately at all times.
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