With $480,000in cash lined into jacket pockets and a closet safe holding 13 gold bars with a Mercedes convertible parked in his garage, such an individual in mob circles would be known as “a good earner.” As it turns out, he is no mafioso, but a longtime member of that esteemed upper chamber of Congress in New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez.
When I first read about Menendez’s exploits, two thoughts came to mind. First, he must be planning to get divorced but when his wife and three New Jersey businessmen were also accused with him on charges of bribery, fraud, and extortion, a divorce might actually be welcomed in exchange.
Secondly, I recalled a similar story at a parole staffing that I was privy to many moons ago. The inmate eligible for parole was an old-timer from the Philadelphia Irish mob. When questioned about the $850,000.00 in small bills found in his home, his disgust told a different story. He corrected the pre-sentence investigation saying the sum found was more like $1.1 million and accused authorities of sleight of hand.
The crux of the Menendez situation is how the FBI conducted their search back in June 2022 but said nothing about it. Rather, they sat on the case for over a year fearing the story would hurt Democrats at the upcoming November midterm election. Juxtapose that to when the FBI raided Donald Trump’s Florida residence, TV crews were conveniently on-site recording from the gate.
Criminal charges are nothing new for Menendez. In 2015, he faced corruption charges, but the case ended in a mistrial. The last refuge of a scoundrel in 21st century American politics is to claim racial bias against your particular brand of corruption. Menendez does not disappoint by maintaining he is being victimized because some “simply cannot accept that a first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. Senator.”
Prosecutors say Menendez used his influence as chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to benefit a bevy of Egyptians resulting in hundreds of thousands in cash bribes – making your typical pyramid scheme seem amateurish.
Menendez claims the cash accumulated over three decades from bank withdrawals, which were used for “emergencies.” Who among the unwashed doesn’t have a cash stash. Given the success of Bidenomics, who couldn’t use a side hustle to establish one.
To keep such large sums of cash in one’s home, rather than in a bank account, CD, money market, mutual funds, stocks, and bonds, explains how Congress has accrued a national debt of $33 trillion and counting. After all, the FDIC guarantees individual bank deposits up to $250,000.
Cash can be verified through bank records, serial numbers, and the Treasurer’s signature. The FBI should be able to identify the exact date each bill was printed and would then make it easier over a 30-year period to figure out when the bills were stashed.
Menendez is up for re-election in 2024, and the Democrats’ lock on this prized senate seat may be unlocked if he remains the Democrat nominee making his candidacy expendable. Democrats want Menendez to resign viewing him as the perfect fall guy to show just how righteous they are in dealing with fraud and corruption within their own party, while justifying their continued harassment of Donald Trump.
Moreover, it affords New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy the opportunity to appoint someone useful to the party and therefore assuming the coveted incumbency before the election. In essence, Menendez is the ideal case study in the Democrats’ devouring their own for the good of the party.
Having beaten the rap once, he would be loco to resign without a full pardon. You would think a conviction of income tax evasion looms, but then again, Menendez is a Democrat.
The best part for Menendez when he is acquitted and reelected by those astute New Jersey voters next year is he does not have to concern himself with wearing a jacket and tie when he returns to shining his senate seat once again. With the dress down in full swing, he can sport a white hoodie like the late Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd used to do when home on vacation in West Virginia.
