How Bob Menendez conviction could change how politicians are prosecuted - Stile

Throughout his latest criminal ordeal, Sen. Robert Menendez defiantly declared himself a patriot, a duly elected representative carrying out the cause of Democracy.

But a jury of 12 New Yorkers saw him simply as a grubby crook who turned his office in to a general store of corruption, taking gold bars and a Mercedes Benz and stacks of cash in exchange in helping further the interest of Egypt and a couple of “friends” from New Jersey who sought his help in sabotaging criminal investigations.

And now, the other 99 members of the clubby United States Senate will also have to view the 70-year-old prowling the hallways as pariah with a new Mark of Cain ― the first U.S. Senator convicted for illegally and secretly serving as an agent of a foreign country. He is also the seventh U.S. Senator ever convicted.

“This wasn't politics as usual. This was politics for profit,’’ said Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York who brought this sprawling indictment last September.

“And now that a jury has convicted Bob Menendez his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end,’’ Williams said, an allusion to the long pursuit by federal law enforcement authorities of the Hudson County powerhouse. It began in 2006 during his first run for the Senate when he came under suspicion to steering federal aid to properties he owned. The investigation produced no charges.

But more than a decade later, in 2017, Menendez escaped his first indictment on charges of using his office to help a south Florida ophthalmologist. It ended with a hung jury. He emerged defiant and vengeful. And now, his luck and his plying his trade in the legal and moral gray zone between deep-pocketed power and politics ― and staying one step ahead of prosecutors ― has now come to an end, at least for now.

Menendez, perhaps to deal with the mounting stress of the impending verdict, took to the hallway outside U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein’s courtroom on the 23^rd floor of the federal courthouse, singing a ballad to himself as he gazed out over the East River and out onto Brooklyn around 11 a.m.

But shortly after 12:30 p.m. as the court filled with lawyers, allies and family, including his daughter Alicia Menendez, the MSNBC host, to hear the verdict, Menendez was stoned faced, showing no emotion, turning to look at the jury as the clerk individually polled them. And minutes later, he was on the steamy sidewalk flanked by his legal team, declaring his innocence and his patriotism and vowing to appeal.

“I have never violated my public oath,’’ he said. “I have never, ever been a foreign agent. The decision registered by the jury today has put at risk of every member of the United States Senate in terms of what they think a foreign agent would be.”

Kelly: Bob Menendez, a crooked NJ politician, just doesn't get it

Yet, the slam dunk verdict will go down as a watershed moment that extends beyond the rocky career of the Menendez, the former Union City school board member who clawed his way to power by testifying against his mentor, the former Union City Mayor William Musto, more than four decades ago.

For the moment, the nation may scoff at the conviction as New Jersey politics as usual, another Jersey Swamp creature taking bribes. It will further enshrine Hudson County as a top candidate for Corruption Capital USA, with its long roster of bribed officials and Jersey City mayor and county executives and legislators including one, David Friedland, who faked his own scuba diving accident near the Bahamas in order to avoid prosecution.

But this will also have implications for prosecutors from across the country, who may have been gun shy about bringing these cases in the wake of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, which narrowed the definition of bribery and setting the bar higher for prosecutors to meet for convictions.

In the Menendez case, it was clear that Williams’ team felt that pressure. They amassed a mountain of largely circumstantial evidence to demonstrate that it was beyond logic to think that Menendez was kept in the dark while his new wife, Nadine Arslanian, was arranging deals with the Egyptian government in collaboration with co-defendant Wael Hana, or Edgewater developer Fred Daibes. Both were also convicted Tuesday.

“The government's not flying the white flag of surrender here on political corruption, right? You know, we're still in business,’’ said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “There's still lines that can be crossed. And you know, no matter what the Supreme Court says, we're still going to prosecute the laws that are on the books.”

In front of the courthouse, Menendez showed none of the iron-fisted Boss bravado of seven years ago after being liberated from his first corruption by a hung jury in 2017. Back then, he put the New Jersey political class on notice that he had been nursing grudges during his long ordeal and he warned that maybe they should be looking over their shoulder. He had an enemies list.

“To those who were digging my political grave, so I could jump into my seat, and I won’t forget you,” he declared at the time..

Yet, on Tuesday, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was standing by with a shovel, calling on him to resign. So was Gov. Phil Murphy, who would face the task of appointing a replacement to fill out Menendez’ term, which expires next January. Other Democrats, reflecting on the “solemnity” of the sad moment, called for him to step aside, including Rep. Donald Norcross, D-Camden, whose brother, the Democratic Party leader George E. Norcross, is the target of a separate, sprawling racketeering indictment.

Reaction: Politicians renew call for Sen. Bob Menendez to resign after guilty verdict

Menendez didn’t take questions from the media as he made his brief remarks. He vowed to appeal. There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution to prevent a convicted U.S. senator from running for reelection and there is no provision that calls for his automatic removal. His colleagues could mobilize to expel him, but the Senate has been loath to take that step (U.S. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has been the exception).

Menendez has gathered enough signatures to run as an independent in the fall election for the U.S. Senate, which seems, at first, blush to be an exercise in ridiculous vanity and would defy reality. He has until Aug. 16 to make the decision.

He has about $3.1 million in his campaign account, according to Federal Election Commission filings, which could, in theory, keep him in the race and let him continue raising money for what are expected to be his enormous legal bills. He does have a base in the Latino-concentrated Hudson County base. He has some name recognition beyond that. A poll earlier in the year said he could siphon away about 6 percent of the vote from Democratic nominee Andy Kim, the South Jersey congressman.

That scenario of an independent and indicted Menendez didn’t initially frighten Democratic operatives earlier in the year ― New Jersey has been a reliable Democratic bastion for more than 50 years and Kim looms as a historic candidate.

But President Biden’s debate debacle has sent shivers down the spine of national Democrats, who are worried that he will lose and take the down-ballot candidates for House and the Senate with him. That fear has also rippled through the blue bastions like New York, where Biden’s poll numbers have drooped.

The failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party nominee, is expected to generate national sympathy and solidarity ― further fueling the intraparty anxiety. That will put pressure on the party to send Menendez packing and the fastest route may be for Schumer to negotiate a deal. One idea, as one longtime Democratic Party operative theorized, may be for Schumer to rally party donors to help Menendez pay his legal bills in exchange for his departure.

Sounds like a pulp fiction plot but than again, this is New Jersey and it has a many-volume history of deceit and corruption by the duly elected.

The revised edition, featuring Menendez’ fall from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, one of the highest perches of power in the United States, to an Oct. 29 sentencing date, is already available.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bob Menendez verdict could change prosecution for politicians