The Shame of the Senate Democrats
Menedez is an opportunity they are throwing away
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Former Senator Al Franken was forced out of congress on dubious MeToo charges and his colleagues piled on, fearful of being seen as weak on women’s issues. Many of them called for his ouster and he eventually resigned as Senator, despite the accusations being flimsy at best.
Those calls for his ouster, which took place before the facts were evaluated, came back to haunt those who wanted him out, when it became obvious that he had been railroaded prematurely. Because he left, we lost a good congressman who may or may not have deserved his fate.
So now, faced with incredibly blatant and questionable behavior by another fellow Democrat, Senator Menendez, his colleagues are devastatingly silent. The charges are extremely serious and the evidence damning. $150k in gold bars, over $450k in cash lying around, and a convertible Mercedes, all traceable to known criminal operators, should be enough.
But he apparently was sharing secrets with Egyptian authorities, which moves his actions into treasonous territory, if true. Yet only a small handful of his colleagues have said anything. From the rest, a deafening silence as the wagons circle.
It should be noted that Menendez has aggressively denied wrongdoing by claiming a conspiracy against Latinos (really?) and that the cash was because he has stashed it for years because of a poor upbringing. A weak defense at best.
No mention of those gold bars by the Senator.
Senate Democrats need to call for his resignation pending trial now, and there are reasons beyond basic outrage at his alleged actions, especially his contacts with Egypt, a country we cannot call an ally.
The Republican Right has spent years claiming the Department of Justice has been politicized as it pursues charges against former President Trump, despite overwhelming evidence in his cases justifying the charges.
Now the DOJ is going after a prominent Democratic Senator based on more damning evidence and his fellow Dems are glaringly silent. If for nothing else, this is a huge lost opportunity to refute the Right’s claims about bias in the DOJ.
