DEMOCRATS:...U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez Indicted...Bribery...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | He's been around seemingly forever and has at times been in legal hot water with his moves as a U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, representing New Jersey, has been in office since 2006.

He's now been indicted.

The 69-year-old Democrat, chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, got hit with the bad news earlier today.

This excerpt from axios.com: [ Menendez has been indicted on bribery charges, according to prosecutors and court records. It's the second time the powerful New Jersey Democrat has faced federal corruption-related charges in the last decade.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, are charged "with bribery offenses in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen," the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York wrote on the social media platform X on Friday.

They are charged with three counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. A spokesperson for Menendez's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The indictment alleges that Menendez and his wife accepted "hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using" the senator's "power and influence to ... seek to protect and enrich" the businessmen."

"Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value," the indictment said.

Prosecutors allege that Menendez "promised to and did use his influence and power and breach his official duty in ways that benefited the Government of Egypt," as well as Egyptian-American businessman Wael Hanna. ]

This comes at a bad time for Democrats. Lately, they have made hay of Republicans flaunting the law, especially one Donald J. Trump and a slew of his fiercest backers, most now facing charges in Georgia for attempting to overturn the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Menendez, himself, has said nothing about these charges.

He should...

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