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GOP
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We've been covering Donald Trump's trial for weeks. Now it is time to cover some trials of Democrats. Let's start with Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), since he is a sitting member of the Senate and has filed to run in November as an independent. Menendez, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is charged with taking cars, gold bars, cash, and all kinds of other good stuff in return for helping the Egyptian government on matters his committee had jurisdiction over and for his help in other matters.
On Friday, Jose Uribe, who took a plea deal in March and is now a cooperating witness, testified. He said that he bribed Menendez by buying a Mercedes for Menendez' wife, Nadine Menendez, and she accepted it. If she were a true patriot, she would have said: "I don't want a foreign car. I want a good old American Cadillac," but she didn't. She gratefully accepted the Mercedes. It is perhaps noteworthy that she needed a new car because she crashed her previous one after striking and killing a pedestrian. She was not charged for that. Uribe also said he thought he had a deal which included at least $200,000 in cash. Shortly thereafter, Menendez called the NJ AG, Gurbir Grewal, to discuss the matter of the prosecution of a friend Uribe wanted dropped.
Grewal testified and confirmed that Menendez called him about the case. He told Menendez to buzz off. Grewal refused to meet the Senator. He said interference in a prosecution from a sitting senator was unprecedented and he wanted to keep it that way.
Nadine Menendez has also been indicted. If she took a car in return for lobbying her husband to interfere in the New Jersey prosecution, she could also be convicted. Her trial has been postponed until at least July because she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. (V)