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
Chuck Ross • May 20, 2021 3:20 pmSen. 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.
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