PrairiePundit

 NY Times: Informant in Menendez Bribery Investigation Made Secret Recordings A new legal filing in the case against Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, refers to recordings from a “confidential source.” The Senator's lawyer will have a difficult time explaining what is on the recording if it is entered into evidence.

NY Times: After Years, the Case Against a Senator Suddenly Folds The long arc of the corruption investigation into Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, which began more than five years ago with salacious rumors, collapsed over two weeks in January. Menendez was your typical Senator from New Jersey and likely would never have been exposed for alleged corruption were it not for his opposition to Obama's bad deal with Iran.  Once that happened he got a look at Chicago Way corruption from the Obama DOJ. It was then he learned what the Tea Party found when they opposed Obama.  The wheels of "justice" were used to grind them down.

Washington Post: Major victory for Sen. Robert Menendez as judge declares mistrial in bribery trial The mistrial is a setback for the Justice Department, whose efforts to combat public corruption have been curtailed by a recent Supreme Court decision. The New Jersey Democrat was accused of taking gifts in return for attempting to use his office to provide government favors to a Florida eye doctor. Calling a mistrial a "major victory" is like calling a tie a victory before a game goes into overtime.  There is also a move afoot to refer Menendez to the Senate Ethics Committee.  With all the attention the media is focusing on Roy Moore and his dating habits it will interesting to see if they take a similar interest in Menendez and quit acting like he is a winner. Meanwhile, Democrat Senator Al Franken apologized for groping a radio personality in 2006 on a USO tour.  That matter is also being referred to the Senate Ethics Committee.

Daily Mail: Senator Bob Menendez only ‘likes the youngest and newest girls’ says Dominican prostitute who 'attended alleged sex parties with him' The jury is still out on the corruption charges against Menendez.  Democrats still appear supportive of him and there is no indication that he will leave the Senate because of the charges. I get the impression that the allegations against Moore and Menendez are being influenced by the fight over control of the Senate.  It is hard to defend the alleged conduct by either, but somehow people are willing to ignore it with control of the Senate at stake.

Washington Free Beacon: Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez and two top Senate Democrats on Sunday refused to say whether Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) should step down if he is convicted by a jury in his corruption trial. "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace asked Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) whether he thought Menendez should step down from his Senate seat if the jury convicts him, emphasizing the meaning of conviction versus their previous exchange on allegations of sexual misconduct against Roy Moore, the Republican Senate candidate in Alabama. Van Hollen said that he was going to leave the case to the jury and was not going to get ahead of the game when it comes to making a decision on whether he should step down. "People on the jury will look at the facts, just like people in Alabama will have to look at the facts, and they'll have to render a decision," Van Hollen said. "I'm not going to speculate about what the outcome of that ...

NY Post Editorial: ... Above all else, Menendez outlined what Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry repeatedly claim the deal’s critics lack: a credible alternative and “a pathway to a better deal.” The purpose of the agreement, Menendez reminds us, was “to dismantle all, or significant parts, of Iran’s illicit nuclear infrastructure.” Not to “shrink its infrastructure. Not limit it. But fully dismantle Iran’s nuclear weapons capability.” Yet this deal, he said, “failed to achieve the one thing it set out to achieve — it failed to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear-weapons state at a time of its choosing.” Instead, it actually “authorizes and supports the very road map Iran will need to arrive at its target.” Kerry, Menendez recalls, promised him Iran “will either dismantle” its Arak plutonium reactor “or we will destroy it.” Yet the deal leaves Arak fully functioning. The deal’s defenders quickly denounced Menendez as a “warmonger” — in line with Obama’s claim that the c...

Washington Free Beacon: A controversial donor with ties to prominent Democrats who is under investigation by the FBI may not have the qualifications he claims. The resume of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida-based ophthalmologist and controversial Democratic donor, boasts medical education and experience at Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Missouri. But none of those schools says it can find any record of Melgen, who claims to be a Harvard alumnus, the former chief resident of the University of Missouri’s ophthalmology department, and a former Yale intern. Melgen is at the center of a Senate panel probing potential ethics violations by Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), who may have used his official position to benefit Melgen, a major campaign contributor. Menendez is also under scrutiny for failing to disclose his use of Melgen’s private jet to take trips to the Dominican Republic in 2010. Menendez denied wrongdoing but in January of this year wrote Melgen a p...

Miami Herald: Sen. Bob Menendez used his influence to advocate for a Dominican Republic business deal that helped a longtime friend and donor whose South Florida office was raided by federal agents this week. Menendez questioned Obama administration officials at a July hearing about what it was doing to help U.S. businesses that he felt were being unfairly treated by the government of the Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries. One company Menendez was apparently referring to: ICSSI, acquired the year before by Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Palm Beach County eye doctor and friend. The firm was seeking to enforce a contract it had won to X-ray Dominican Republic port cargo, that could be worth $500 million to $1 billion over two decades. “You have another company that has American investors that ... has a contract actually given to it by the — ratified by the Dominican Congress — to do X-ray of all of the cargo that goes through the ports,” Menendez, a Democrat from New J...

Miami Herald: FBI agents late Tuesday night raided the West Palm Beach business of an eye doctor suspected of providing free trips and even underage Dominican Republic prostitutes to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. — who has denied what he calls the “fallacious allegations.” Agents gathered at the medical-office complex of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a contributor to Menendez and other prominent politicians, to start hauling away potential evidence in several vans. The investigation is believed to be focusing on Melgen’s finances and the allegations about Menendez’s trips and contact with prostitutes. A spokesman for Menendez could not be reached for comment, nor could Melgen. Melgen has an outstanding IRS lien of $11.1 million for taxes owed from 2006 to 2009, according to records filed with the Palm Beach County recorder’s office. A previous IRS lien for $6.2 million was released in 2011. Despite those financial problems, Melgen and his family have contributed at least $357,000 to candidate...