A powerful Democrat senator — the driving force behind his colleagues’ push for the Obama administration to impose tougher sanctions on Iran — now reportedly finds himself facing extremely serious legal trouble.
New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, who publicly slammed the president earlier this week for his handling of nuclear arms talks with the Iranian dictatorship, is about to be slapped with criminal corruption charges, reports CNN.
The cable network says that the Justice Department will allege that Menendez used his senate office to benefit a longtime friend and wealthy Democrat donor, Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, who supposedly returned the favors.
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“People briefed on the case say Attorney General Eric Holder has signed off on prosecutors’ request to proceed with charges.”
The investigation of the senator’s relationship with Melgen and the eye doctor’s alleged gifts to Menendez has been underway for some two years.
According to The New York Times:
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The investigation began with a tip that Dr. Melgen had helped pay for underage prostitutes for Mr. Menendez in the Dominican Republic. The women who made the accusations ultimately recanted, but the F.B.I. continued to investigate.
Both Sen. Menendez and Dr. Melgen have denied doing anything improper.
While there is no obvious connection between the pending corruption charges and the Menendez criticism of Obama at the recent AIPAC conference at which Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu spoke, one can reasonably take note of the timing.
The ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez told the gathering of the prestigious American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that the Obama administration’s handling of the Iranian nuclear talks is “simply not good enough.”
A post at Newsmax quotes Sen. Menendez in his stinging criticism of Obama, the president’s National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and Secretary of State John Kerry:
“As long as I have an ounce of fight left in me, as long as I have a vote and a say and a chance to protect the interests of Israel, the region, and the national security interests of the United States, Iran will never have a pathway to a weapon,” Menendez said, bringing the AIPAC delegates to their feet.
The AIPAC address was certainly not the first time that this Democrat senator has gone against the Democrat president over Iran. As CNN notes, Menendez has become one of the administration’s most outspoken opponents when it comes to dealings with, and concessions to, Iran.
The Daily Caller and Fox News jumped on the Menendez-Melgen connection and possible misbehavior more than two years ago. Those reports were met with strong push-back from Menendez as well as liberal groups that decried the reports as unfounded conservative attacks.
The CNN report on the pending criminal corruption charges notes that Robert Menendez is one of the highest ranking members of Congress and, as such, his being targeted by Holder’s Justice Department could present a challenging dynamic to Obama’s efforts to court Latino support.