Free Republic

Sen. Bob Menendez may call a federal prison home if prosecutors prove he accepted bribes to do favors for a wealthy businessman. But you wouldn’t know that if you tuned in to Bloomberg TV last week to watch the New Jersey Democrat discuss a Securities and Exchange Commission nomination. The reporter didn’t mention the case. And there was nothing remarkable about the omission. Menendez regularly appears on cable news programs without viewers being told he faces felony corruption charges. CNN’s Jake Tapper didn’t mention the prosecution during a 10-minute interview on March 13 that focused on health care policy. Nor...

My liberal friends have worked themselves into a fever anticipating the impeachment of President Trump. They think they've got a second Watergate going. Have your fun while you can. But the next trial likely to affect the political lineup won't be happening before the U.S. Senate in Washington. It will be happening before the U.S. District Court in Newark. In the dock will be U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, faced with 22 counts of ethics charges alleging he took illegal gifts from a Florida Miami eye doctor who was recently convicted on 67 counts of Medicare fraud.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A prominent Florida eye doctor accused of political corruption was convicted of Medicare fraud Friday, increasing the odds that federal prosecutors could pressure him to testify against New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez. Dr. Salomon Melgen faces 15 to 20 years in prison on 67 counts, including health care fraud, submitting false claims and falsifying records in patients' files, if he doesn't strike a deal before his sentencing, scheduled for July 14. The senator denies any wrongdoing. The doctor, 62, collected more money from Medicare than any other physician in the nation — $21...

Sen. Robert Menendez ongoing corruption case could upend the New Jersey Democrat’s reelection bid in 2018, with the longtime politician scheduled to go to court this fall. The Supreme Court delivered another blow this week to the embattled senator when it refused to dismiss the case. The trial is scheduled to begin about a year before the midterm elections. Federal prosecutors charged Menendez, who has pleaded not guilty, in April 2015 on 14 criminal counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery. Menendez is expected to head to trial on Sept. 6,facing a potential criminal conviction even as he would normally be...

We hope Sens. Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand are giving that devastating new profile of resident Obama’s foreign-policy guru a careful read. Because they’ll learn how they were all played for fools on the Iran nuclear deal by that aide, Ben Rhodes — and the resident. That applies especially to Schumer, who will be the Senate Democratic leader come January. Booker and Gillibrand hewed to the party line in backing the deal. Schumer gave it a thumb’s-down — but then refused to lobby his colleagues to take his side. Sen. Bob Menendez, on the other hand, is looking...

Senate Democrats have unveiled legislation to alleviate Puerto Rico’s debt woes, urging that the island be allowed to declare bankruptcy on all of its debt. The bill, released Monday, would allow the U.S. territory to restructure its $72 billion in outstanding debt and create a fiscal oversight board for the island. “For the 3.5 million American citizens living on the island of Puerto Rico, time is running short,” said Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), one of the bill’s sponsors. “Congress has to act immediately to fix the federal funding shortfalls and give Puerto Rico the tools it needs to fully restructure...

.....Obama will visit Cuba on March 21 and 22.... Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) called it "totally unacceptable for the president of the United States to reward a dictatorial regime with an historic visit when human rights abuses endure and democracy continues to be shunned." "This will mark the first time a U.S. president is visiting a dictatorship in Latin America since Lyndon Johnson's 1968 visit to Nicaragua...Since Castro seized power, nine American Presidents - Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush - did not rush to the island to shake hands with an...

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Tuesday challenged Democrats to support a bill that would punish cities that don't adhere to federal immigration laws, and said today's vote on the bill will let voters see if Democrats favor illegal immigrants over Americans. "For every Democratic senator, this vote today is a simple decision: With whom do you stand?" Cruz said on the Senate floor. "Do you stand with the violent, criminal illegal aliens who are being released over and over again?" The bill would block federal funding to any of the more than 200 cities around the country that have decided...

A federal judge has dealt Sen. Bob Menendez a setback in his defense against corruption charges, denying nearly all of the New Jersey Democrat’s motions to dismiss the charges or throw out evidence. Judge William Walls dismissed four of the bribery counts against Menendez and his friend and political donor, Salomon Melgen. All of those charges were related to donations Melgen made to Menendez’s legal defense fund, the Fund to Uphold the Constitution. But Menendez's most ambitious motions – attempting to have the entire case thrown out for prosecutorial misconduct or violations of Constitutional protections for legislative activity -- were...

The United States should consider allowing “strategic” crude exports to allies abroad while renegotiating the nuclear deal with Iran, Sen. Robert Menendez said. The New Jersey Democrat’s comments, part of a speech Tuesday at Seton Hall University to explain his opposition to the agreement, marked a shift in his approach to oil exports. Menendez historically has opposed moves to loosen the longstanding ban on exporting U.S. crude. But on Tuesday, Menendez highlighted oil exports as a geopolitical tool — a way for U.S. oil to compete in markets that might be customers for Iranian crude if the nuclear accord is...

Current state of play Yes or leaning yes (34 needed to uphold veto, keep the deal): 24 No or leaning no (67 needed to override veto, kill the deal): 48 Unknown/unclear: 28 And now, the 100 senators ... Yes (1) Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) Clearly leaning yes, reserving final judgment (12) Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) Leaning...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, her Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, and Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) supported a visa waiver for the daughter of a fugitive Ecuadorian banker in exchange for significant campaign contributions to the Democratic Party. On Tuesday, NBC 4 New York reported that Menendez, with express written support from Clinton, intervened on behalf of Estefania Isaías, who was banned from traveling to the U.S. due to accusations of visa fraud. Isaías is the daughter of Roberto Isaias, who lives in Miami and is currently fighting extradition to Ecuador for banking crimes and under investigation for...

A Brazilian actress-turned-lawyer admits she had an affair with the doctor pal of Sen. Robert Menendez, but claims she had no idea the indicted lawmaker pulled strings to get her a US visa. Juliana Lopes Leite defended herself last week during a prime-time interview on Brazilian TV, in response to a recent Post exposé that revealed the identities of two women who had obtained entry to the US thanks to the New Jersey Democrat’s aggressive efforts with the State Department.

[I]n the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake, while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, the Obama administration and Congress gave Bill Clinton carte blanche in handling hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars flowing to Haiti for recovery and reconstruction. This translated into enormous political power for the former president in the poorest country in the hemisphere, making him a de facto cacique. Mr. Clinton loves to paint himself as a third-world redeemer, as he did in an interview in Africa with an NBC reporter that aired last week. The reporter asked about charges that the Clinton Foundation’s practice...

It’s been almost a month since the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial titled “The Menendez Indictment.” We responded in a letter to the editor that has not been published. It’s a safe bet it never will be, so we post it here. The Journal got to the point in its opening paragraph: Ill-defined federal laws now reach into virtually every sphere of human behavior, and thus prosecutors can destroy almost anyone they choose. The recent indictment of Senator Robert Menendez on 14 counts of corruption and “honest services” fraud is a troubling case in point that deserves more...

America has an alphabet soup of visa programs for foreigners to choose from: B-1 for business visitors, B-2 for tourists, EB-5 for investors, F-1 for students, and so on. All are overwhelmed, loosely monitored and riddled with fraud and corruption. According to the recently unsealed federal indictment against him, sleazy Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., took it upon himself to add his own very special, crooked path to the U.S. Call it the 36DD Visa. The New York Post recounted this weekend how Menendez and his staff pressured the State Department to expedite the foreign tourist and student visa approval processes...

Senate proponents of a bill empowering Congress to review and potentially reject any Iran nuclear deal must first win a battle with some colleagues determined to change the legislation in ways that could sink it. “Anybody who monkeys with this bill is going to run into a buzz saw,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina warned ahead of this week’s debate. Also trying to discourage any changes, Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey urged senators to stick with the plan as it emerged from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. […] GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a presidential...

Rubio’s right that this is a hypothetical and that nothing like the Gang of Eight bill could pass the House right now. But Mickey Kaus is right that it’s a darned fine gotcha, a way to gauge how far Rubio’s willing to go in renouncing his signature “achievement” as a senator. What if Rubio defeated Hillary next year and the party’s leadership decided to capitalize by doing something splashy to show Latino voters that the new, Rubio-led GOP was ready to engage them like never before? A bill like the Gang of Eight bill getting past the House isn’t...

Immigration reform advocates are rushing to the defense of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) following his indictment Wednesday on federal corruption charges. “My fervent hope is that Senator Menendez emerges from the current troubles stronger than ever,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of immigration rights organization America’s Voice. “For he is not only the senior Senator for New Jersey; he’s also the senior senator for Latinos,” he continued.

They are the models who could bring down a senator. Sen. Robert Menendez mobilized his staff to secure a visa for a Brazilian actress who posed nude on the cover of Sexy magazine; he stepped up for a sultry Ukrainian student who wanted a plastic-surgery consult; and he directd a staff member to “call Ambassador asap” in order to reverse a visa denial to a 22-year-old Dominican model. The young women were all paramours of Dr. Salomon Melgen, 60, a married eye doctor and one of Menendez’s biggest donors, prosecutors charge. The New Jersey Democrat’s efforts on behalf of Melgen’s...