John Kerry is the climate czar in the Biden Administration. Rahul Gupta is the drug czar. The current administration has loads of czars working on all sorts of different issues. I think we should nominate Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey as the corruption czar.
The senator is quite knowledgeable on corruption. Since becoming a senator in 2006, Mendendez has faced numerous corruption scandals. The latest scandal began late last year culminating in an indictment on Sept. 22 that involves Mendendez, his wife, three New Jersey businessmen and the Egyptian government.
The indictment was handed down by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In response to the indictment, the senator has chosen to resign from his leadership role in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. However, he has chosen not to resign from the Senate despite calls from 31 senators.
I too think Menendez should resign. This has been a problem for years. In 2016, the senator was indicted in the United States of America v. Robert Menendez case.
“A 22-count indictment (the “Indictment”) charges that from 2006 to 2013 United States Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey solicited and accepted numerous gifts from his friend Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida-based ophthalmologist,” 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas L. Ambro wrote. “In exchange, Senator Menendez allegedly used the power of his office to influence, among other things, an enforcement action against Dr. Melgen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and to encourage the State Department and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (“Customs”) to intervene on Dr. Melgen’s behalf in a multi-million dollar contract dispute with the Dominican Republic.”
In the last decade alone the senator has been indicted on misuse of power against major federal agencies and foreign governments. If anyone else in the country tried to sway decisions CMS were making or provided confidential government information to a foreign government, they would face treason charges. The least Menendez can do is resign.
It’s worth noting that Menendez ended up with a mistrial in the first case and then had his charges dismissed. This was after McDonnell v. United States, which made it significantly more difficult for prosecutors to prove that a politician engaged in the act of bribery. This case, in some ways, set the stage for this current corruption scandal.
Menendez has spent his senatorial career taking indictments on the chin. In the past these cases involved people that could, in essence, take the fall for him. Melgen, for instance, was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2018. His sentence was eventually commuted by former President Donald Trump in 2021.
This case seems different. The senator is involved and can surely push the three businessmen to the forefront of it all. The difference now is that his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, has been indicted as well. If you read the indictment you will find she is a major player in this scandal. She introduced Egyptian officials to the senator and knew the three businessmen before beginning her relationship with the senator. She was the go-between for everyone that wanted to talk to Menendez. She introduced everyone to him.
Now, this is where it gets really interesting. Will the senator throw his own wife under the bus in order to salvage his political career?
With all that said, it truly is a detriment to the political system and the government as a whole that an U.S. Senator is involved in not only a corruption scandal of this scale, but that it’s not his first rodeo either.
All the parties involved in this scandal have pleaded not guilty. Menendez was released on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond. The personal recognizance bond requires no money up front. Even in dire straits, Menendez is still doing everything he can to save a dollar. I almost respect how awfully cheap that is. Almost.
I would like to know why it took four days for Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey to call for the resignation of Menendez. Booker is no amateur when it comes to corruption, as he has been called out for possible corruption of the Newark Water Agency when he was the mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Perhaps that explains his prolonged silence, or perhaps he may not want to talk ill of a fellow Democratic senator. I think if there is ever a moment to talk ill of a fellow party member, it is when corruption is mentioned.
At the end of the day, another corruption scandal in the U.S. is nothing new. I don’t think that changes the fact that Menendez should step down. It may not be par for the course anymore, but it’s certainly the right thing to do. I would advocate for him to step down. Isn’t it better to step down with some decorum then potentially risk being expelled?