New Jersey Senator Menendez fails to win breaks in corruption trial

The corruption trial of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez is starting.

And a motion to allow the trial to be "throttled" on/off so Menendez could attend U.S. Senate votes was denied by the Judge.

The Judge seems to be concerned about casting "political determinations" !!

So let's see if any "key votes" in the Senate will be affected by this.


New Jersey Senator Menendez fails to win breaks in corruption trial

A federal judge has rejected Senator Robert Menendez’s request to allow breaks in his corruption trial beginning next Wednesday so the New Jersey Democrat could travel to Washington to cast critical Senate votes.

In a decision made public on Friday, U.S. District Judge William Walls in Newark, New Jersey, rejected Menendez’s claim that he deserved special treatment because he had a “constitutional duty” to be in Washington for his constituents.

Walls said he suspected the request was part of a strategy to “impress the jurors” with Menendez’s importance, but that it was speculative to suggest the senator would miss key votes.

If he was worried about his constituents at all he wouldn't be on trial for corruption.
PERIOD

Menendez, 63, is charged with accepting improper campaign donations and gifts, including luxury trips and private jet flights, from co-defendant Salomon Melgen in exchange for lobbying on the wealthy Florida ophthalmologist’s behalf.

I wondered what he did to get singled out for this standard operating procedure that our other 500+ politicians do on a routine basis?

This is a really interesting story:

www.nydailynews.com...

Sen. Robert Menendez may have had sex with underage hookers in Dominican Republic: prosecutors

Which appears to have led to this case.

and

dailycaller.com...

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid personally asked the Obama administration to help a Florida eye doctor who was accused of paying Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, according to the Department of Justice.

All the way back to 2011. How far does this rabbit hole go?

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Just to add

Reid has his own relationship with Melgen. The former Senate majority leader flew on Melgen’s private plane in 2012 from Washington, D.C., to Boston for a Majority PAC event, a political action committee whose purpose is to help expand and keep a Democratic majority in the Senate. In addition to the flight, Melgen donated $600,000 to Majority PAC.

Who the heck is this doctor anyways?

a reply to: ClovenSky

They have their dirty little secrets !!

www.politico.com...

Check this out! If Menendez is finished that would mean Christie gets to choose his successor. What with the Affordable Care Act impending vote and him possibly ending a long standing Democrat in office this could be a big game changer.

a reply to: xuenchen

Menendez & Netanyahu

In the courtroom, Judge William Walls did not allow Dr. Melgen’s girlfriends to be referred to as “girlfriends,” only “friendship” was acknowledged, fooling no one. In a bizarre filing before the trial opened, the government worked hard to portray the senator and the wealthy doctor as two dirty old men living the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Dr. Melgen wanted to bring his young “foreign girlfriends to the United States to visit him,” the document notes. The women were “from Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Ukraine.” Senator Menendez helped with the visas. Dr. Melgen arranged for Mr. Menendez and his girlfriend (oh by the way both men are married) “to stay in Punta Cana, an exclusive oceanside resort town” in the Dominican Republic.

On other occasions, the two men and their, er, friends, enjoyed vacations “at Melgen’s villa at Casa de Campo, a cloistered resort on the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic with renowned golf courses, a spa, polo fields, a marina, restaurants and other amenities.” The trial brief describes an “enclave, venerated for its seclusion” and “frequently visited by luminaries in sports, entertainment and business, including Beyonce, Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Richard Branson and Bill Gates.” Elsewhere in the brief, the government notes that with assistance for Dr. Melgen, Mr. Menendez stayed at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Paris, “one of Europe’s most elite, routinely hosting celebrities from the world over, including the likes of George Clooney and Maria Sharapova.”

It’s unclear what relation Beyonce and George Clooney have to the case, but eventually the trial will get down to narrow matters of law.