[Daily Caller] New Jersey U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez accepted nearly $1 million in lavish gifts and campaign contributions from Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen in exchange for the Democrat's political help, including intervention on behalf of Melgen's businesses and for three of his visa-seeking foreign girlfriends.
In a 68-page indictment handed down on Wednesday, the Department of Justice accused Menendez and Melgen, both 61, of engaging in corruption and bribery between 2006 and 2013. According to the indictment, Menendez helped three of Melgen's girlfriends -- a Brazilian, a Dominican and a Ukrainian -- obtain U.S. visas in 2007 and 2008.
Melgen, who has a wife named Flor, met his Brazilian girlfriend -- a model, actress and lawyer -- in 2007. Melgen suggested that his girlfriend move to the U.S. to attend school in South Florida, and she applied for a student visa. On July 24, 2008, a day before her visa application appointment in Brazil, Menendez's senior policy adviser emailed the deputy assistant secretary of state in Brazil in order to grease the wheels.
Sad thing is, Melendez needs a chance to defend himself. After all, look what federal prosecutors did to Senator Ted Stevens in Alaska. That was a political persecution through and through designed to throw a seat in an election.
We don't know what the Feds are holding on Mr. Menendez, and it may be that the man is guilty as sin. But given the way the DoJ has acted the last decade, I'm going to wait to see the evidence in open court. And trust that the judge has a good nose for prosecutorial malfeasance... |
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