Hold on, I’ve been promoting this story on Facebook and Twitter and there appears to be some confusion. Sorry if anyone hastily leapt to conclusions, but it’s The Bob, not The Donald.
That’s right, you read it here first, probably. While all attention has been focused on the possibility of Trump being impeached (note: odds remain low at moment, unless evidence surfaces, an unnamed source tells me), almost no one seems to have noticed that Senator Bob Menendez is set to go to trial in September. The evidence would appear to be overwhelming — Menendez is from New Jersey, so that’s pretty much self-evident — and if he is convicted it might complicate his re-election bid.
Oh yeah, Menendez is a Democrat so that could put a presumably safe seat in play and lessen the already incredibly remote chance of Chucky Schumer becoming majority leader. “Democrats are defending a whopping 25 seats as compared to just eight for Republicans. But it gets worse — much worse — for Democrats,” CNN reports.
Menendez is a right-wing crank on foreign policy and a Goldman Sachs Democrat on the economy so watching him go down in flames would be amusing. On the other hand, I’ve no clue which Republican would replace him in this scenario but he or she would no doubt be a godawful zealot.
Anyway, as Bloomberg recently summed up the charges, Menendez “is accused of improperly seeking to help Florida doctor Salomon Melgen in a Medicare overbilling case, a contract dispute with the Dominican Republic and with visa applications for three girlfriends. Prosecutors say Menendez accepted nearly $1 million in campaign donations and luxury travel, including a Paris vacation, from Melgen.” Now that’s what I call collusion!
Making matters worse, Melgen was recently found guilty on 67 counts of fraud and could face up to twenty years in prison. Might he rat out Menendez? Yeah, I’d say the odds are better than fifty-fifty. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has already rejected Menendez’s attempt to throw out the charges against him so it looks like a trial is inevitable.
OK, so that’s it for now. Check back here regularly for updates.
