Posted on 03/06/2015 12:36:50 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Alternate headline via Dave Weigel: “DOJ confirms that Bob Menendez is a New Jersey politician.”
There’s no louder Democratic critic of Obama’s Iran deal than Menendez and now here he is, about to be indicted. Hmmm. Maybe I spoke too soon in questioning Lee Smith’s theory that the White House has decided to start destroying the Iran-deal skeptics on its own side.
People briefed on the case say Attorney General Eric Holder has signed off on prosecutors’ request to proceed with charges, CNN has learned exclusively. An announcement could come within weeks. Prosecutors are under pressure in part because of the statute of limitation on some of the allegations…
The government’s case centers on Menendez’s relationship with Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist who the senator has called a friend and political supporter. Melgen and his family have been generous donors to the senator and various committees the senator is associated with…
Menendez advocated on Melgen’s behalf with federal Medicare administrators who accused Melgen of overbilling the government’s healthcare program, according to court documents and people briefed on the probe. Melgen was among the top recipients of Medicare reimbursements in recent years, during a time when he was also a major Democratic donor. Melgen’s attorneys have denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors also are focusing on whether Menendez broke the law in advocating for Melgen’s business interest in a Dominican Republic government contract for a port screening equipment. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, at the time, considered donating port screening equipment to the Dominican Republic, which would have hurt the contract of Melgen-controlled company.
Remember Salomon Melgen? Two years ago, news of Menendez’s seemingly shady meddling on his behalf was all over righty blogs, often tangled up with accusations that went nowhere about Menendez supposedly having hired prostitutes. (The prostitution claims aren’t part of the feds’ investigation, per CNN.) Not only was there a strong stench of influence peddling surrounding their relationship, Menendez has already had to reimburse Melgen for $58,000 after it came out that the donor had allowed the senator to use his private jet. The evidence of the free flights emerged after — ta da — an FBI raid on Melgen’s offices in early 2013. The feds have been sniffing around the two of them for a long time.
In fact, I think Dan Foster’s theory of the Iran/indictment timing is closer to the mark than the White House retaliation theory:
Isn’t it just as likely Menendez knew the charges were coming down and started shouting from the rafters on his pet cause to martyr himself?
— Daniel Foster (@DanFosterType) March 6, 2015
It’s hard for a Democratic senator to accuse a Democratic president of partisanship and politicization during a long-running DOJ investigation … unless that senator has made himself a conspicuous enemy of the White House on a key policy matter. Maybe that explains, at least partly, why Menendez has been so unusually willing to throw roundhouses at O on Iran. The harder he fights, the easier it is to present suspicions over his dealings with Melgen as a frame-up rather than something legitimately criminal. Hmmm.
Exit question: If/when Menendez resigns, will Chris Christie abandon a presidential primary he can’t win and run for a Senate seat he can’t win instead?
Update: A compromise theory from Ace. Maybe he’s guilty and on Obama’s sh*t list.
i could buy it this way: Because of @SenatorMenendez's iran position, they did not bury the evidence as they would for most Dems @davereaboi
— TheClassyLife (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 6, 2015
Obama should be told to step.down, immediatly.
“Obama’s using all the powers of govt to destroy anyone he wants just like despots do in 3rd world $hit-holes.”
Buckwheat has no armed muscle backing him up. He has Sun-Tzu BS. That’s it. Let that skinny runt put out a call for volunteers to die on a hilltop for the glory of obuma. Nobody will show up.
I wasn't aware of that.
Agree that the seemingly impending Melendez indictment is political retaliation for his failure to toe the Obama line recently. If not, how do you explain all these years since the corruption charges were floating around while the DOJ sat on its hands?
But possibly the bigger political faux pas on Menendez' part was his opposition to Obama's move to "reset" US relations with Cuba. (Menendez is of Cuban origin, although his family came to the US before Castro came to power.)
Menendez should’ve watched his sixes. He should have made sure that the county he lived in had a pro-2nd Amendment, Constitutional sheriff. That way, if Buckwheat tried to harass him, the sheriff could have placed an armed battalion (2,000 men) between the skinny cockroach Buckwheat and Menendez.
Buckwheat is a coward and a fraud. If he puts out a call for volunteers to die on a hilltop for the glory of Obuma, nobody will show up. You gotta believe in something to die for something. Nobody gives a crap about Buckwheat.
Same with Hillary’s recent exposure?
Wonder if either of them are ready to “roll over” on Obozo?
Obama should be impeached! Enough of his tinpot dictator machinations!
“start” ?
Boehner and Mitch have been O’s bitches for a long time
25 million Americans need to descend on DC and Force the president’s “abdication”...and yes I do mean the term! The military needs simply to stay out of the way. By the way a certain RINO speaker and a certain lady Dem minority leader need to be kicked out too!
A good man is much harder to control than one who's been compromised.
Is that what's happening with Hillary?... Her little email scam wasn't THAT heavily disguised. She obviously felt safe within the scam - the safety of being corrupt and above it all...
I’d be surprised if Obama’s gang of thugs will ever make anything stick to a NJ politician, particularly one that is from their own party; but we know how blankety-blank stubborn and arrogant the POS is, so it is likely to grind on and on into 2016, Menendez will come out a little worse for wear, and the entire Latino community throughout the country will begin to understand who and what they’re up against (in every sense of the word).
BM’s opposition to Zero’s Putin policy, his Iran policy, his Cuba policy, his fracking policy, his pro-jihadist policy... :’)
” Agree that the seemingly impending Melendez indictment is political retaliation for his failure to toe the Obama line recently. If not, how do you explain all these years since the corruption charges were floating around while the DOJ sat on its hands?”
You nailed it, on Cuba as well. I sure wouldn’t want to be the recipient of Obama’s wrath when he decides to unleash his Chicago thugs. : )
It's a little more nuanced than that. The entire Latino community isn't as monolithic as the MSM would have you believe. Cuban Americans, especially, are mostly either Castro-era refugees or descended from them, which means they tend to be anti-communists and US defense hawks. This is NOT the experience of other Latino subgroups. So the Cuban Americans are distinct, with their own values. The thinking here is that prosecuting Menendez, a Cuban (though pre-Castro) , will not elicit the sympathies of the other Latino subgroups as much as you might think, and the Obamatons feel confident that it won't arouse the ire of most of their leftist Latino base. In other words, Menendez, in the minds of the Obamatons, is expendable.
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