Feds to retry Senator Bob Menendez in bribery case

[goldenequity]

Feds to retry Senator Bob Menendez in bribery case
https://truepundit.com/feds-retry-senator-bob-menendez-bribery-case/

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Menendez was tried in a New Jersey federal court this September for corruption charges, including bribery,
involving his relationship with florida doctor Salomon Melgen.
The jury, however, was not able to come to a decision, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial
and giving Menendez the opportunity to claim vindication.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) on Thursday challenged the Department of Justice
to either prosecute him again on corruption charges or drop its case.





Well... you got your answer Bob.

[angelatc]

Good.

[Swordsmyth]

Good, I was afraid they were going to drop the case.

[Swordsmyth]

New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez (shown) escaped being convicted on 18 charges of corruption, self-dealing, and failures to report income last November but now the clock on his retrial has run out. It is expected that the date for his retrial on many of those same charges will be announced this week. (https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jan/27/us-sen-menendez-trial-reboot-will-see-something-ol/)

The judge in the case last year has recused himself from the retrial but has aided the prosecution in its new efforts to convict Menendez. Following the declaration of a hung jury last November the senator’s defense attorneys filed a motion to have that judge, Senior U.S. District Judge William Walls, dismiss all 18 charges. Walls filed a 50-page brief explaining why he would only dismiss the minor ones. He left in place the most damaging charges and then helped the Department of Justice lawyers improve their case against Menendez by explaining why:
Regarding the gifts that his friend, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, gave Menendez: “A rational juror could find that Melgen gave Menendez gifts intending that Menendez take official actions he would not otherwise take.”
Regarding Menendez’s failure to report those gifts as required by Senate rules: “A rational juror could infer that Menendez knew that he had received the gifts, and knew that he was required to report them.”

The defense has lost a key character witness in the trial: Menendez’ “good friend” Melgen has been convicted of 67 charges of Medicare fraud, totaling more than $100 million, and is awaiting sentencing that could put him away for up to 30 years.

More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/28150-new-jersey-democrat-senator-menendez-up-for-retrial-on-corruption-charges

[Swordsmyth]

The Justice Department, which just weeks earlier said it was planning on retrying New Jersey’s senior Senator Bob Menendez on corruption charges, asked a district court judge (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-departments-seeks-to-toss-out-charges-against-sen-menendez/2018/01/31/19a3094c-06a8-11e8-b48c-b07fea957bd5_story.html?utm_term=.a7ccf9be7e61) on Wednesday to “dismiss the … indictment[s]” against him, and hours later the judge complied. Menendez’s sigh of relief was palpable in his statement following the dismissal:
From the very beginning, I never wavered in my innocence and my belief that justice would prevail. I am grateful that the Department of Justice has taken the time to reevaluate its case and come to the appropriate conclusion.
“From the very beginning” Menendez’s political career has been plagued with charges of corruption, graft, illegal influence peddling, and lying. Just because the DOJ has decided not to press its case against him doesn’t mean he’s innocent, just lucky.

Following a hung jury in November, Menendez has been holding his breath, waiting for the date of his retrial to be announced this week. The dismissal caught many by surprise, including former federal prosecutor Robert Mintz:
This case has been on a long, winding road, and this is a surprising end. It’s certainly a major setback for the Department of Justice, given the high-profiled nature of this case.
There are many reasons why the DOJ has backed down, including the enormous expenditure of time, effort, and taxpayers’ monies during the first trial that failed to convict him. The prosecution took eight long weeks and put 50 witnesses on the stand, and still it was unable to build a solid link between gifts to Menendez from his “good friend” Salomon Melgen, an eye doctor from Miami, and certain “official” acts by Menendez that benefitted Melgen.
That Melgen is himself corrupt is evident by his conviction on 67 counts of Medicare fraud and his imminent sentencing (up to 30 years) for them.
But perhaps the real reason — the one that appears to be most persuasive in this case — is the Supreme Court’s decision in 2016 to throw out a conviction in a similar corruption case brought against former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. McDonnell was found guilty of violating the law when he received gifts, money, and loans from Jonnie Williams, the CEO of a Virginia-based company, in exchange for official acts by McDonnell that the jury saw as favorable to Williams.
Upon appeal the Supreme Court was unanimous in throwing out McDonnell’s conviction, and Chief Justice John Roberts explained why. Those “official acts” that McDonnell performed weren’t adequately tied directly to gifts from Williams:
In sum, an “official act” is a decision or action on a ‘question, matter, cause, suit, proceeding or controversy.’ Setting up a meeting, talking to another official, or organizing an event (or agreeing to do so) … does not fit that definition of an official act.
This was the prosecution’s weakness in last fall’s trial of Menendez: It failed in proving conclusively to the jury that certain “official acts” by the senator were tied directly to various gifts that Melgen provided in return. There were trips to the Dominican Republic provided by Melgen to Menendez on his private jet, which Menendez failed to report properly. There was political pressure and influence that Menendez brought to bear that indirectly benefitted Melgen. The 68-page indictment against Menendez looked persuasive, alleging that Menendez had attempted, on Melgen’s behalf, to influence a State Department official in a dispute involving one of Melgen’s business interests in the Dominican Republic; that Menendez tried to help Melgen “resolve” a dispute the doctor was having with Medicare over billing fraud; and that Menendez had ordered his staff to secure visas for several of Melgen’s prostitutes.

More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/28176-in-a-surprise-move-doj-asks-judge-to-dismiss-all-charges-against-nj-senator-menendez

[timosman]

Case closed.