Posted on 05/13/2024 7:58:16 AM PDT by RandFan
Sen. Bob Menendez is set to stand trial in Manhattan federal court starting Monday in a sprawling corruption case brought by prosecutors who say the New Jersey Democrat accepted bribes, acted as a foreign agent and obstructed justice.
The onetime chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee vowed to defend himself since an initial indictment alleged he and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, which included cash, gold bars and a luxury vehicle.
Attorneys for Menendez have previewed in court filings possible defenses the senator could lean on, including potentially putting the blame on his wife.
The attorneys, in a letter disclosed in court filings, also have outlined arguments that the senator storing cash was a coping mechanism tied to trauma related to his father’s suicide and a family history of having funds confiscated by the Cuban government.
A conviction could result in prison time for the 70-year-old senator, who in 2015 was indicted on federal corruption charges in a separate case. In that case, the jury could not reach a verdict in 2017 and a judge acquitted the senator in 2018 on the most serious charges. The Justice Department later dropped the rest of the charges.
In this case, Menendez, who has served as a member of Congress for more than three decades, faces 16 criminal counts that include bribery, extortion and acting as a foreign agent. Menendez has not resigned from his position despite calls to do so from some fellow Democrats, and in a video this year he said he’s hopeful that an exoneration will allow him to pursue his candidacy “as an independent Democrat in the general election.”
(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...
I bet the MSM doesn’t cover it in nearly the same way as Trump’s sham trial................
You have to read several paragraphs through it before you find he’s a,Democrat
Oops.. I was wrong
All he has to do is claim it’s Trump’s fault and the idiot NY judge and jurors will find him not guilty.
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