Sen. Pumpkinhead Menendez Employed Registered Sex Offender & Illegal Immigrant

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/05/bob-menendez-trial-set-to-begin-wednesday/

Bob Menendez trial set to begin Wednesday
By Kaja Whitehouse
September 5, 2017 | 3:25pm | Updated

The bribery trial of US Sen. Robert "Pumpkinhead" Menendez (D-NJ) will kick off Wednesday in Newark federal court with allegations of sex, jets and Medicare fraud.

Menendez will be on trial for an expected six to eight weeks in the first federal bribery case involving a sitting senator in 36 years.

The case, brought by prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Unit in Washington, DC, accuses Menendez, 63, of accepting lavish bribes from a millionaire Palm Beach, Fla., eye doctor, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations, free private jet flights and “all-expense paid” vacations.

In exchange, Menendez pressed government officials to help his doctor friend, who will also be on trial, with his business and personal affairs — including procuring US visas for Melgen’s three young girlfriends, the feds have said.

One month after Menendez reached out to the US Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, for example, one of Melgen’s girlfriends — and her sister — were re-interviewed and allowed entry into the US, prosecutors have said.

Prosecutors will also tell the jury that Menendez helped Melgen fight the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ claim that he cheated Medicare out of $8.9 million in 2007 and 2008 in exchange for bribes.

On the same day that a $300,000 check from Melgen arrived at a Menendez political-action committee June 7, 2012, Menendez met with CMS’s highest-ranking official and pressed the agency to “change the reimbursement policy leading to the $8.9 million repayment demand,” the feds say.

Menendez generally kept the gifts — including a three-night stay a $1,500 per night room at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Paris — secret by failing to report them in his annual financial disclosure forms, the feds have said.

Menendez, who has denied the charges, is expected to argue that the gifts he received from Melgen were due to their close friendship — and that he advocated for the doctor as he would any constituent.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...Bribery-Trial-New-Jersey-Court-442967493.html

Lawyer for Menendez's Co-Defendant Assails Case
Published 6 hours ago | Updated 17 minutes ago

An attorney for a wealthy doctor on trial with U.S. Sen. Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez has told jurors the government's corruption case is built on assumptions.

Kirk Ogrosky made his opening statement Thursday morning. He says Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen and Menendez are longtime friends who spent time frequently at Melgen's homes in Florida and the Dominican Republic.

The government alleges trips paid for by Melgen, and campaign contributions he made to Menendez, were to get the New Jersey Democrat to use his influence to help Melgen's business interests.

Ogrosky told jurors Menendez often paid for his own flights to visit Melgen with family members.

Ogrosky also said Melgen didn't get any benefit from Menendez's alleged attempts to pressure government officials on his behalf.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/06/menendez-prosecutor-this-is-what-bribery-looks-like/

Menendez prosecutor: ‘This is what bribery looks like’
By Kaja Whitehouse
September 6, 2017 | 8:32pm

NEWARK, N.J. — The corruption trial of Sen. Robert 'Pumpkinhead" Menendez opened Wednesday with a federal prosecutor’s blunt assessment, “This is what bribery looks like.”

“These two defendants corrupted one of the most powerful offices in our country. The defendants didn’t just trade money for power, they also tried to cover it up,’’ assistant U.S. attorney Peter Koski told jurors in Newark federal court.

Menendez is on trial for accepting all-expense-paid, luxury vacations, free private jet jaunts and more than $750,000 in campaign donations from his co-defendant Dr. Salomon Melgen, a wealthy jew eye doctor from West Palm Beach who was recently convicted of Medicare fraud in Florida.

In exchange, Menendez used his influence to help Melgen with his personal and business affairs, including when allegations that the doctor ripped off Medicare to the tune of $8.9 million, Koski said.

“Senator Menendez went to bat for Dr. Melgen at the highest levels of the United States government because Melgen gave Menendez access to a lifestyle that read like a travel brochure for the rich and famous,” Koski said.

Both Menendez and Melgen have said their trips together were evidence only of their friendship.

“There’s no friendship exception to bribery,’’ Koski said. “Make no mistake about it, Robert Menendez was Salomon Melgen’s personal United States Senator.”

Koski told the jury that Menendez was so confident Melgen would get him whatever he wanted that he once asked the doctor to book him a $1,500 a night room at a hotel in Paris by specifying that it must have a “limestone bath with soaking tub and .. views of courtyard or streets.”

Melgen used 650,000 American Express points to fulfill the request and Menendez promised to repay him with his own Amex points. But as soon as Menendez accumulated enough to start paying the doctor back, he used the points for something else, Koski said.

The senator also used his influence to help Melgen with a contract dispute in the Dominican Republic — and to help secure travel and student visas for three of Melgen’s foreign girlfriends, Koski said.

At least some of the girlfriends are expected to take the stand at the nearly two-month trial, according to Melgen’s lawyer, who complained that the government could “trot his girlfriends in front of you (the jury) just so you can see them.”

“He was not always the best husband,” lawyer Kirk Ogrosky told the jury by way of acknowledging the girlfriends.

Menendez, meanwhile, choked up and appeared on the verge of tears during a short speech before he entered the courthouse.

“Never — not once, not once — have I dishonored my public office,” Menendez said, flanked by his adult son and daughter. “I have always acted in accordance with the law. I believe when all of the facts are known I will be vindicated.”

In a show of support for his fellow Garden State Democrat, Sen. Cory Booker took a front row seat right behind Menendez as federal prosecutors told the jury about the senior senator’s years of alleged corruption.

Booker embraced Menendez in the courthouse’s hallway and then took off right after his defense lawyer finished opening remarks.

If Menendez is convicted he could be forced out of the Senate by a two-thirds majority vote, which would allow outgoing Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, to pick his successor. Currently, Republicans hold 52 Senate seats compared to 46 for the Democrats.

Defense lawyer Abbe Lowell told the jury that Menendez didn’t disclose the gifts he got from his doctor pal because the Senate’s financial disclosure rules are “confusing,” and because they were often for trips Menendez had been taking for years — before he was a senator.

“A gift of personal hospitality doesn’t have to be listed,” Lowell told the jury. “You’ll hear that personal friendship was a defense,” he said.

Menendez, the first sitting U.S. senator to be tried in federal court for bribery since the 1980s, could miss some days of the trial for Senate votes.

Before openings, Menendez’s lawyer sparred with the judge for shooting down his request to recess the trial on days when the senator had “critical” votes in Washington.

In a written ruling, Judge William Walls surmised that Menendez made the request to “impress the jurors with the public importance of the defendant Senator and his duties.”

“I think the court has disparaged the defense,” lawyer Raymond Brown remarked on Wednesday, prompting the judge to tell Brown to “shut up for a moment,” while he explained himself.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/07/​judge-urges-feds-not-to-turn-menendez-case-into-tabloid-trial​/

​Judge urges feds not to turn Menendez case into ‘tabloid trial’​
By Kaja Whitehouse
September 7, 2017 | 3:29pm

NEWARK, N.J. — The feds suffered their first setback in ​the ​Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez bribery trial Thursday when the judge blasted a line of questioning about the New Jersey senator’s stay at a luxury Paris hotel as “tabloid.”

Newark federal court Judge William Walls stopped prosecutors as they questioned their first witness, an FBI agent who was called to introduce emails between Menendez and others concerning a room he sought to book at the fancy Park Hyatt Hotel in 2010.

In the emails, the senator asked his wealthy doctor friend Salomon Melgen — his co-defendant in the trial — ​ to buy the room using his American Express points​, but only after scrounging around for the best rate.

Menendez went on to request a more expensive $934-per-night room, instead of one that was $870-per-night – a detail prosecutors emphasized during questioning — which is what caused ​Judge ​Walls to go ballistic.

“I said to you at sidebar that I was not within my discretion to permit this to be a tabloid trial,” he said after ordering the jury out of the courtroom. “Frankly, who cares whether the senator opted for a more expensive room?”

“I don’t think it’s a sin for him to want a limestone bath ,” the judge said, adding that the rain shower that came with the room was “one of my favorite baths.”

Prosecutor Joseph Patrick Cooney argued that Menendez’s room preference was relevant because it demonstrated he had zero intention to repay the doctor as he promised.

“This would be no different than a $5,000 cash bribe and a $50,000 cash bribe,” Cooney said.

But the judge didn’t buy it and warned the lawyers to stick with evidence that is “relevant to the case.”

The evidence showed that Melgen ended up footing the bill for an even better room for the senator at the Paris hotel, which cost more than $1,500 a night — for total of close to $5,000 for three nights.

Menendez is charged with accepting all-expense-paid luxury vacations, free private jet jaunts and more than $750,000 in campaign donations from Melgen, a wealthy eye doctor from West Palm Beach who was recently convicted of Medicare fraud in Florida.

In exchange, prosecutors have accused the Democrat of using his influence to try to help Melgen in his personal and business affairs, including the federal government’s claims that Melgen ripped off Medicare to the tune of $8.9 million.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/07/lawyer-for-menendezs-doctor-calls-bribery-allegations-baloney/

Lawyer for Menendez’s doctor calls bribery allegations ‘baloney’
By Kaja Whitehouse
September 7, 2017 | 2:37pm

NEWARK, N.J. — A lawyer for the wealthy doctor pal of Sen. Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez slammed bribery allegations against the two Thursday as “baloney” – saying the physician’s Caribbean vacation home is nothing more than a modest abode.

The Democrat is accused of accepting bribes – including frequent trips via private jet to pal Salomon Melgen’s Casa de Campo Resort home in the Dominican Republic – in exchange for using his political influence to help Melgen in his personal and business affairs.

The trial against the two got underway Wednesday.

But the doctor’s lawyer, Kirk Ogrosky, told jurors that the home – which sits next to a golf course and is staffed with a maid and cook – was nothing special.

“This was Dr. Melgen’s home. This was not a gift of some resort,” Ogrosky said during opening statements in Newark federal court, while showing the jury photos of the sprawling home.

The doctor paid close to half-a-million dollars for the home in the mid-1990s. It has five bedrooms, a pool, abuts a golf course and was staffed by a cleaning lady and a cook.

Ogrosky said Menendez visited the house over 25 times since his first trip in 1998 — and that he generally paid his own way.

“That’s baloney,” he said of the government’s allegations that Melgen used his private jet to entice Menendez to go to bat for him.

The lawyer portrayed the two men as friends who grew closer following Menendez’s divorce in 2005.

The pol is accused of accepting all-expense-paid luxury vacations, free private jet jaunts and more than $750,000 in campaign donations from Melgen, a wealthy eye doctor from West Palm Beach who was recently convicted of Medicare fraud in Florida.

Melgen, in exchange, got help from the powerful pol who allegedly stepped in when the US accused the doctor of ripping off Medicare to the tune of $8.9 million, prosecutors said.

The government is expected to introduce witnesses who observed Menendez on Melgen’s jet — including a pilot who stocked the plane with the senator’s favorite brand of bottled water.

Also expected to testify are some of Melgen’s foreign girlfriends, according to Ogrosky, who complained on Wednesday that government could “trot his girlfriends in front of you [the jury] just so you can see them.”

Menendez allegedly used his influence to help Melgen secure travel and student visas for three of Melgen’s gal pals.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/11/no-way...ts-to-pay-for-pricey-paris-hotel-prosecutors/

No way Menendez had enough reward points to pay for pricey Paris hotel: prosecutors
By Kaja Whitehouse
September 11, 2017 | 2:18pm

NEWARK, NJ — It would have taken 30 years for Sen. Robert "Pumpkinhead" Menendez to accumulate all the American Express points he needed to pay for a luxurious hotel room in Paris that federal prosecutors say was given to him as a bribe, a witness testified Monday.

In 2010, New Jersey’s senior senator was decades away from acquiring the 650,000 credit card rewards points used by Dr. Salomon Melgen to pay for a more than $1,500-a-night room for Menendez in Paris, American Express employee Andrew Thomas testified.

The total bill for the room was around $5,000.

The government has said the room was part of a quid-pro-quo relationship between Menedez and Melgen, a wealthy eye doctor from West Palm Beach.

The NJ Democrat and the doctor are on trial in Newark federal court on charges that he accepted the hotel and other gifts — including free private jet jaunts and $750,000 in campaign donations — in exchange for using his influence to try to help Melgen in his personal and business affairs, including the federal government’s claims that Melgen ripped off Medicare to the tune of $8.9 million.

Prosecutors say Menedez turned to Melgen to pay for the pricey Paris hotel after scrounging around for a discount. In an email, he promised the doctor he would repay him when he accumulated enough American Express points of his own.

Instead, the senator made his first points redemption three years later, in 2013, and used his 134,328 points to buy a “Weber Genesis” barbecue grill, the witness testified.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/12/girlfriend-of-menendezs-doctor-pal-reveals-how-she-got-her-visa/

Girlfriend of Menendez’s doctor pal reveals how she got her visa
By Kaja Whitehouse
September 12, 2017 | 2:36pm

Rosiell Polanco
Patti Sapone/NJ Advance Media


NEWARK, N.J. — Federal prosecutors trotted out two young girlfriends of the rich, married doctor- pal of Robert "Pumpkinhead" Menendez to have them explain at the corruption trial how the politician helped them get US tourist visas.

Rosiell Polanco, who was 22 when she applied for her visa from the Dominican Republic, told the Newark federal jury how she got the gold-star treatment after Menendez called the ambassador to her country on her behalf.

Rosiell Polanco
Patti Sapone/NJ Advance Media


Polanco, who now lives in Raleigh, N.C. , said she immediately called Dr. Salomon Melgen after she and her sister were rejected for a visa to visit the wealthy West Palm Beach ophthalmologist.

“He told me he was going to try to fix it, that he was going to talk to the senator,” the stunning brunette told the jury, speaking through a Spanish interpreter.

Menendez and Melgen, both 63, are on trial in Newark federal court on charges that the Garden State senator received lavish gifts from the eye doctor, including all-expense-paid vacations and $750,000 in campaign contributions, in exchange for helping secure visas for his three foreign flings, among other official favors.

About a week after calling Melgen, Polanco said she got a call at her home from the US embassy telling her to come in for a second interview.

“Did you reapply to the US embassy or to the consulate’s office?” prosecutor Monique Tara Abrashami asked.

“No,” Polanco said.

“So other than calling Dr Melgen … did you do anything to get that denial reconsidered?”

“No.”

“Were you surprised then to get that call for a second interview?”

“Yes,” she said.

The interview itself was also notably smooth, Polanco said. She was immediately called to the interview window and questioned by someone she described as “important in that place,” who then approved tourist visas for Polanco and her sister.

The second witness, Ukrainian model Svitlana Buchyk, also testified that Melgen told her at a dinner in Miami that Menendez was the man responsible for getting her a tourist visa, which she said she received “quickly,” or within three days.

But Buchyk was hostile toward prosecutors, accusing them of twisting her words and forcing her to testify against the doctor, who agreed to bring her and her mother to the United States to help her mom with a medical procedure.

“It was in a jokey way, it wasn’t in a serious way,” Buchyk insisted after conceding that Melgen introduced her to Menedez as the man who helped her obtain her visa.

“Its just how Latin people talk and that’s what I told you from the beginning,” she said.

Later, during cross examination, Buchyk seemed on the verge of tears as she complained about the feds forcing her to testify against her the wealthy doctor.

“Do you know why you’re here?” asked Melgen lawyer Kirk Ogrosky.

“No, no I don’t know why I’m here. He’s just been forcing me to be here ,” she said, referring to prosecutor Peter Koski.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/12/staffer-worried-menendez-was-degrading-himself-over-visas/

Staffer worried Menendez was ‘degrading’ himself over visas
By Kaja Whitehouse
September 12, 2017 | 2:33pm

NEWARK, N.J. — ​A former senior staffer for Robert "Pumpkinhead" Menendez was worried that the​ politician​ was “degrading” himself by helping his wealthy pal get visas for his foreign girlfriends, it emerged at the ​senator’s corruption trial Tuesday.

“RM does not need to be calling US ambassadors about stuff like this,” ​former senior staffer Mark Lopes said in an email to another ​legislative aide, according to prosecutors. ​​

“For something so small as this it really degrades his reputation,” prosecutors said of the email, which referenced Menendez “trying to help get visas for women from the DR (Dominican Republic) for Sal M.”

Menendez is on trial in Newark federal court on charges that he did favors for Salomon Melgen, a wealthy West Palm Beach eye doctor, in exchange for lavish gifts, including all-expense​-paid vacations and $750,000 in campaign contributions.

Favors include Menendez helping his married pal secure visas for three of his foreign girlfriends, prosecutors have said.

On Monday, Lopes testified that that he was instructed to call a US ambassador to the Dominican Republic “asap” on behalf of Melgen’s 22-year-old stunner girlfriend Rosiell Polanco. Melgen, 63, wanted the then 22-year-old wannabe fashion student and her sister to visit him for the Christmas holiday , the staffer testified.

On Tuesday, Lopes testified on cross examination that he didn’t think much of Menendez’s contacting the Ambassador to the Dominican Republic on behalf of Melgen — saying he didn’t even remember having done it a year late, in 2009, when he met Melgen in Valencia, Spain.

That prompted the government to seek to introduce a Nov. 2009 email of Lopes complaining about his boss.

Lopes sent the email to another staffer using his private email account and told the staffer he was purposefully “taking this thread offline and removing RM.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Bob-Menendez-Trial-Corruption-Melgen-444461693.html

More Testimony About Free Travel Expected at Menendez Trial
Published 1 minute ago

A wealthy donor on trial for bribery with U.S. Sen. Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez spent more than $8,000 to fly Menendez back to Washington from Florida on a private jet with only the senator as its passenger, a witness testified Wednesday.

Prosecutors are seeking to show the donor, Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, bribed Menendez with numerous free flights to and from Florida and the Dominican Republic on his private jet over several years so the New Jersey Democrat would lobby on behalf of Melgen's business interests.

The flight in October 2010 was taken at a time when Melgen's plane was unavailable, Jeffrey Wardenaar testified. Wardenaar's company arranged charter jet flights at the time.

According to Wardenaar, the flight cost $2,600 per hour, which included "deadhead" flights — repositioning flights with no passengers — from Sarasota, Florida, to West Palm Beach, Florida, to pick up Menendez and from Washington to Islip, New York after dropping him off.

Menendez and the Palm Beach County doctor have contended in court filings that the flights and other gifts, which also included a $1,500-per-night hotel room in Paris in 2010, were between friends and weren't part of a bribery arrangement. Their attorneys also told jurors in opening statements that Menendez took numerous trips to visit Melgen that he paid for himself.

The trial is in its second week. Jurors heard Tuesday from two women whom prosecutors claim were helped by Menendez to obtain U.S. visas as part of the alleged bribery scheme. Defense attorneys claim it was customary for Menendez to help with visa applications and that the women received the visas on merit.

The indictment also alleges that Menendez lobbied government officials on behalf of Melgen in a Medicare billing dispute and a contract dispute involving a company Melgen owned that sought to provide port security equipment in the Dominican Republic.

Menendez contends his actions fell under the normal duties of a senator, and that he was probing larger issues of port security and Medicare billing inconsistencies, and not on behalf of Melgen specifically.

Menendez and Melgen face multiple fraud and bribery counts. The most serious carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/13/menend...s-stocked-with-senators-favorite-water-pilot/

Menendez pal’s private jet was stocked with senator’s favorite water: pilot
By Kaja Whitehouse
September 13, 2017 | 6:39pm

​NEWARK,​ N.J. — Sen. Robert Menendez was such a frequent passenger on his wealthy doctor pal’s private jet that the pilot stocked the plane with his favorite brand of bottled water, it emerged at the senator’s high-profile corruption trial Wednesday.

Pilot Robert Nylund testified in Newark federal court that he flew Menendez on Dr. Salomon Melgen’s private jet 16 times between 2008 and 2010, when he worked as ​opthalmologist’s pilot.

Menendez was such a common sight that the pilot made sure to request the Garden State senator’s favorite beverages in a 2009 email titled “aircraft stock,” which requested that the plane be stocked with Evian water and several different kinds of juices.

“Myself and the other pilot … figured these are items that should be on board if the Senator was on the aircraft,” Nylund, who now flies for JetBlue, told the jury.

“It was common practice … for a special passenger have the special provisions that they want,” he said.

The only other passenger referenced in the email was Melgen’s wife, who liked to drink Cointreau.

The eye doctor stands accused of using his jet, his Caribbean resort and $750,00 in campaign contributions to bribe Menedez, a sitting senator, into helping him with his business and personal needs, including a $8.9 million bill from Medicare.

At the time of the email, Melgen had just upgraded from an 8-passenger Hawker jet to an 11-passenger Challenger jet, which came equipped with a kitchenette and a three-seater couch that pulled out into a bed, Nylund said.

In addition to jaunts on his private jet, Melgen also once forked over $8,036.02 for Menendez to charter an 8-passenger private jet from West Palm Beach to Washington DC — by his lonesome, an earlier witness testified.

The 2010 Cessna flight required three legs, including two legs with no passengers to get to Menendez in West Palm Beach and then back to the airport hangar in Islip, NY, the according to witness Jeffrey Wardenaar, who arranged the flight.

Wardenaar said the $2,600-an-hour flight was paid for Melgen at a time when his own private jet wasn’t available.

Menendez and Melgen, both 63, have argued that the private planes and other gifts were due to their decades-long friendship — and not as part of a bribery scheme.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Bob-Menendez-Trial-Corruption-Melgen-444461693.html

Jurors in Menendez Trial Hear More Testimony on Free Flights
Published at 1:35 PM EDT on Sep 14, 2017 | Updated at 4:03 PM EDT on Sep 14, 2017

Jurors in the corruption trial of U.S. Sen. Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez and a wealthy donor have heard more testimony about trips the New Jersey Democrat took at the donor's expense.

Two pilots testified Thursday that they flew Menendez on private planes paid for by the donor, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen.

Prosecutors say the flights were part of a pattern of bribery by Melgen to get Menendez to lobby government officials on behalf of his business interests.

They contend Menendez pressured the officials over Melgen's dispute with the government over Medicare billing and Melgen's contract to provide port security equipment for the Dominican Republic.

Menendez and Melgen have denied the allegations and say the gifts were between friends and weren't part of a bribery arrangement.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/14/gop-targets-menendez-for-missing-senate-votes-during-trial/

GOP targets Menendez for missing Senate votes during trial
By Marisa Schultz
September 14, 2017 | 7:25pm | Updated

WASHINGTON — As the courtroom drama heats up in Sen. Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez ’s trial, the New Jersey lawmaker’s seat in the Senate has gone cold.

One Republican group, America Rising PAC, created a new site dedicated to tracking just how many votes Menendez is missing in Washington because of his ongoing federal trial in Newark.

As of Thursday afternoon, the site —www.howmanyvoteshasmenendezmissed.com – has tracked eight missed votes.

“This is just the first week and there’s no telling how long this trial is going to go,” said Alex Smith, executive director of America Rising PAC. “There are important legislative priorities that are coming up this fall and I think the Garden State is definitely going to be missing out on one of its votes.”

Menendez, who maintains his innocence of all public corruption charges, wants to be in the Senate casting votes. But a federal judge rejected his request to alter dates of the trial to accommodate his voting schedule.

But Republicans who want to flip Menendez’s seat into the GOP column have no problem portraying the criminal defendant as MIA Bob.

Menendez ​ and wealthy pal ​​Dr. Salomon Melgen are on trial on charges that Melgen bribed the ​New Jersey Democrat with private jet flights, lavish vacations and $750,000 in campaign contributions. In return, prosecutors say Menendez helped Melgen with his business and personal affairs, including visas for three foreign​ girlfriends.

Menendez believes he’ll be “vindicated” and maintains the gifts were a result of his close friendship with Melgen and he advocated for him like he would any constituent.

Menendez is up for reelection in 2018. But conservative activists are pressuring the senator to resign.

“What every American understands is you’re supposed to get up in the morning and go to work and do your job,” Smith said. “Most average Americans would be fired for not doing their job or for failing to show up.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...l-Corruption-Trial-New-Jersey--444870423.html

Sen. Menendez Fights Charges in Court, Courts Public Outside
By Michael Catalini
Published at 1:16 PM EDT on Sep 16, 2017 | Updated 3 hours ago

Sen. Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez has spent about 30 hours over the last two weeks in a New Jersey courtroom fighting for his political career and freedom, while showing little sign outside the courtroom he's in the middle of a federal corruption trial.

The New Jersey Democrat is defending himself against charges he lobbied government officials on behalf of a Florida eye doctor in exchange for campaign contributions and luxury vacations, and the trial is keeping him away from votes in Washington but not from Senate work entirely.

After prosecutors slammed him on the first day of the trial, Menendez attended a rally of about 100 people outside a federal building to protest President Donald Trump's decision to end deportation protection for young immigrants living in the country illegally.

During a day of testimony from two women Menendez is accused of helping get visas as part of a bribery conspiracy, his Twitter account blasted out messages saying he was "outraged" at Equifax, the credit-rating agency that was hacked, exposing the Social Security numbers and other personal data of about 143 million Americans. Menendez said he will work to preserve the right to sue for those affected by the breach.

The flurry of tweets, news releases and public events comes as Menendez is fighting for his political future. Republicans are already trying to pressure Senate Democrats to call for Menendez's resignation if he's convicted, which would allow Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to choose his replacement to fill out his term.

Menendez has pleaded not guilty.

His advisers say his work is an effort to persevere through an "unjust time in his life."

"He has chosen to continue his fight for New Jersey while at the same time fighting to clear his good name, when most people under these conditions would've simply collapsed," senior political adviser Mike Soliman said.

The spirited defense during the trial follows the script Menendez's team has used since he was indicted in 2015. Menendez vigorously denied wrongdoing that day and vowed to defend himself.

He has raised more than $6 million between a legal defense fund and for his 2018 re-election campaign since then.
Experts interpret Menendez's work schedule as optimism about his chances of acquittal. It's also an effort to avoid showing any weakness, said Montclair State University political science professor Brigid Harrison.

"On some level, it's almost in-your-face," she said. "If you are going to start indicting senators for accepting campaign contributions from individuals and corporations and then advocating for them, there'd be nobody left."

The trial and allegations against Menendez don't seem to have eroded any support from his Democratic allies.

"New Jersey needs people in Congress who fight as fiercely on our behalf as Robert Menendez has his entire career," fellow Democrat and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker said in a statement. "I'm grateful for his friendship and I look forward to continuing to work with him."

Republicans see it differently.

The Republican National Committee has launched a campaign to pressure Democrats to call for Menendez's resignation, and has even put together an election-style video that features then-Sen. Barack Obama calling for the ouster of a Republican lawmaker who was convicted.

The committee has also unveiled what they're calling a second phase of the campaign, calling on Democrats who've accepted campaign cash from Menendez's political action committee to return the money.

Menendez's standing in New Jersey, though, could be taking a hit from the trial. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week showed that 50 percent think he doesn't deserve re-election. The poll surveyed 1,121 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

That was up from a Quinnipiac survey in June when 44 percent thought he didn't deserve re-election. The poll surveyed 1,103 voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...-Bob-Menendez-New-Jersey-Trial-445251073.html

Evidence Rulings Playing Key Role in Menendez Trial
By David Porter
Published 3 hours ago

While scenes of witnesses breaking down under cross-examination remain a staple of television dramas, criminal trials can be won or lost when the jury is out of the courtroom.

That's when lawyers do battle over what evidence they can present, which has been the case at the bribery trial of U.S. Sen. Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez and a wealthy friend.

The judge's rulings have shaped what evidence jurors have heard - and, perhaps more important, what they haven't heard.

For instance, they didn't see an email from a Menendez staffer expressing dismay at Menendez's efforts to secure a visa for his friend's reputed girlfriend.

The New Jersey Democrat is charged with accepting bribes from Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen are in exchange for lobbying for Melgen's personal and business interests. He has pleaded not guilty and denies any wrongdoing.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/18/witness-says-menendez-lived-large-at-dominican-resort/

Witness says Menendez lived large at Dominican resort
By Kaja Whitehouse
September 18, 2017 | 7:20pm

Robert "Pumpkinhead" Menendez’s stays at the luxurious Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic gave him access to white-sand beaches, a marina filled with expensive yachts and five golf courses, a resort executive testified Monday at the New Jersey senator’s corruption trial.

The seven-acre gated community on the Caribbean Sea also boasts the top-rated golf course in the Dominican Republic, six international restaurants, a security staff of 800, and access to elite sports like pheasant shooting, Andres Pichardo Rosenberg, the resort’s president, told a Newark federal jury.

“We import the eggs and cultivate them,” Rosenberg explained when the judge asked, somewhat incredulously, if there are pheasants in the island nation.

“You cultivate the eggs to shoot them?” the judge said in disbelief.

Rosenberg was called to the witness stand by Department of Justice prosecutors looking to prove that Menendez’s access to the resort was a bribe provided to him by his rich opthalmologist pal, Dr. Salomon Melgen, who owns a home in Casa de Campo.

Melgen, who bought the house for close to half a million in the 1990s, has denied that the home was a bribe, describing it as a modest getaway for the doctor and his close friends and family.

But Rosenberg painted a picture of a tropical paradise with private white-sand beaches, shuttle service to a nearby island, access to a spa and a 240-room hotel for guests.

He said there are 1,850 private houses on the resort — some of which cost over $10 million. Rosenberg estimated that homes in Melgen’s neighborhood are worth up to $2.5 million.

Menendez, 63, is accused of accepting lavish gifts from Melgen, including stays at the villa and flights on private jets, in exchange for helping the married eye doctor with his affairs, including obtaining visas for his three foreign girlfriends and straightening out an $8.9 million tab for overbilling Medicare.

The feds on Monday also called to the stand an executive with the exclusive Tortuga Bay Hotel and Punta Cana Resort & Club to testify to the time in 2010 that Menendez stayed in a two-bedroom suite there with ocean views as a guest of Melgen and his wife, Flor.

That weekend, the cost of the $765-per-night suite was comped by the resort’s president because Melgen was attending his son’s wedding, the executive, Alberto Abreu told the jury. Still, he testified to documents showing that Melgen shelled out another $766 for other amenities, including golf, bars and restaurants.

A third witness told the jury that Melgen also shelled out $875 for a chauffeured car in the senator’s name in 2008.

Jeff Fralick, the general manager of car service company Carey International, said Melgen called for the SUV to pick up Menendez at 7:30 pm on Oct. 4, 2008 in Hoboken. The car, which was paid for by the hour, wasn’t returned for a whopping eight hours, he said.

Lawyers for Melgen and Menendez used credit card receipts to suggest to the jury that the car was used to pick up the senator and bring him to an upscale Chinese restaurant where Melgen was waiting for both him and the vehicle.

But Fralick said he knew nothing about how the car was used.

“I cant assume why he used the car,” Fralick said. “It just says he had the car for eight hours,” he said of Carey’s records.​

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...-Media-Jury-Senator-New-Jersey-445759143.html

Menendez Judge Allows Evidence of 'Innocent' Actions
Published at 1:10 PM EDT on Sep 19, 2017

Defense attorneys for U.S. Sen. Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez will be allowed to present evidence of actions he took that are similar to those he faces at his bribery trial but aren't considered criminal.

For instance, the defense wants to show the New Jersey Democrat helped people get visas as part of his job.

Among the charges Menendez faces are that he intervened to get visas for alleged girlfriends of a wealthy donor in exchange for bribes.

Prosecutors had sought to have most of the evidence excluded. U.S. District Judge William Walls said during Tuesday's court proceeding he would allow it, but would limit it as he saw fit.

Prosecutors allege Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen bribed Menendez with trips on his private plane and luxury vacations.

Both men deny the allegations.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/19/menendez-also-used-doctors-private-jet-for-his-gal-pal-feds/

Menendez also used doctor’s private jet for his gal pal: feds
By Kaja Whitehouse
September 19, 2017 | 7:05pm

Robert Menendez and Gwendolyn Beck
AP


NEWARK, N.J. — Sen. Robert "Pumpkinhead" Menendez didn’t just accept flights on a wealthy pal’s private jet for himself — he also arranged for a gal pal to fly for free, the feds said on Tuesday.

In May 2010, Menendez asked Dr. Salomon Melgen to fly his girlfriend — financial advisor-turned-political candidate Gwendolyn Beck — to the Dominican Republic on the doctor’s dime, prosecutors said.

The senator, who was already on the Caribbean island at the time, made the request to the West Palm Beach ophthalmologist by email, FBI agent Alan Mohl testified in Newark federal court.

“Did he (Menendez) pay Dr. Melgen for Gwendolyn Beck’s travel?” prosecutor Monique Tara Abrashami asked Mohl.

“No,” the agent responded.

Beck, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Virginia in 2014, also flew on Melgen’s private jet with Menendez for an all-expense-paid weekend at the luxurious Tortuga Bay resort in Sept. 2010, records showed.

His wife of 29 years, Jane, died in 2005.

Menendez and Melgen, both 63, are on trial in Newark federal court on charges that the senator accepted lavish gifts — including free private jet flights, all-expense-paid vacations and campaign contributions — in exchange for official favors, including help with Melgen’s $8.9 million Medicare bill.

Besides Beck, Melgen’s private jet was also used to fly Menendez’s son, Robert "Pumkinhead" Jr., and his office manager, Maria Almeida, the feds said.

Almeida flew with the senator to the Dominican Republic on Melgen’s Hawker over Labor Day weekend in 2008, records showed. And Robert Jr. rode the jet with his dad in Aug. 2006, the feds said.

Some of the flights were directly tied to favors Menendez did for the doctor, according to the feds, including the Labor Day flight with Almeida, which they connected to Melgen’s request for help obtaining a tourist visa for his 22-year-old Dominican girlfriend.

“How long after the last flight did this email occur?” Abrashami asked agent Mohl about Melgen’s email seeking visa help in Oct. 2008.

“About six weeks,” the agent responded.

Menendez and Melgen have denied the charges, arguing that any gifts and favors exchanged were due to their decades-long friendship.

On Wednesday, the government will show the jury a Feb. 2013 CNN interview of Menendez claiming that he only took Melgen’s plane a handful of times — and that the only reason he didn’t pay for the flights right away was because he forgot.

“It unfortunately fell through the cracks,” Menendez told the CNN reporter, referring to two 2010 flights that were only discovered after they had been reported by the press. “When it came to my attention I personally paid for them,” Menendez said at the time.

The judge ordered the feds to cut a piece of the interview discussing allegations that the senator used prostitutes at Melgen’s Caribbean villa, however, as well as the senator’s tirade about “smear” campaign by “right-wing blogs.”

The prostitution claims, which the defense argued be shown to the jury, have since been debunked.

“There’s no way on God’s green earth I’m going to talk about smears and right-wing activity and let prostitutes come in,” Judge Walls scolded.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/21/photos-in-menendez-bribery-trial-show-senator-was-living-large/

Photos in Menendez bribery trial show senator was living large
By Kaja Whitehouse
September 21, 2017 | 12:06am | Updated

What a life!

Photos just released in Sen. Robert "Pumpkinhead" Menendez’s bribery trial show him living large with his wealthy eye doctor pal Salomon Melgen, including lounge-time by the pool, weekends in the Caribbean with his lady friend, and access to golf courses with ocean views.

The photos are evidence in the Newark federal trial but were not made public until this week, when the judge ordered that they be released following a letter by The Post’s lawyers.

Photos released by the defense show the New Jersey senator enjoying dinner with his then-girlfriend, Gwendolyn Beck, at Melgen’s private villa in the Dominican Republic. The feds have accused Menendez, 63, of bringing Beck, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for congress in 2014, to the Dominican Republic on Melgen’s dime twice.

Another defense photo shows Menendez lounging by the pool with Melgen at his villa, which sits in a 7,000-acre gated community that includes five golf courses and a marina dotted with yachts.

The government, meanwhile, has introduced as evidence glossy photos showcasing Melgen’s two private jets, the gated Caribbean resort where he owned a vacation home and another resort known as Tortuga Bay where he once treated Menendez and Beck to a weekend getaway, according to the feds.

The government claims Melgen, 63, doled out gifts — including free private jet flights and campaign contributions — in exchange for official favors from Menendez, including help getting visas for the ophthalmologist’s foreign girlfriends.

The men insist that any gifts and favors exchanged were the result of their decades-long friendship.

The defense has argued their photos present a more modest look at Melgen’s villa, backing their theory that the two men are simply good friends who helped each other out from time to time.

“This isn’t a bribe. This is a family dinner,” Melgen’s lawyer, Kirk Ogrosky, told the jury about the photo of the group dinner at Melgen’s home.

“Look, it’s nice. It’s nice down there. Don’t get me wrong. But this is a family dinner. This is not a bribe. And what would happen is they would have dinner and then the senator and the doctor would go out back and have a cigar and hang out,” Ogrosky told the jury.

On Wednesday, the feds used Menendez’s Senate financial disclosure forms to show that he failed to disclose more than a dozen lavish gifts he received from Melgen — including the free flights, a chauffeured car and a Paris hotel.

“Did Senator Menendez report the April 2010 stay at the Park Hyatt hotel that Dr. Melgan gave him?” prosecutor Monique Tara Abrashami asked FBI agent Alan Mohl.

“No,” Mohl responded.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/25/menend...-trouble-through-influential-friends-witness/

Menendez pal threatened to ‘make trouble’ through ‘influential friends’: witness
By Priscilla DeGregory and Kaja Whitehouse
September 25, 2017 | 6:03pm

Dr. Salomon Melgen
AP


The wealthy eye-doctor pal of Sen. Robert "Pumpkinhead" Menendez threatened to “make trouble” for the US Commerce Department through his “politically influential friends” if he did not get help with a troubled business project, it emerged at his bribery trial on Monday.

Dr. Salomon Melgen — who is on trial for bribery alongside Menendez in Newark federal court — made the threatening comments through a lawyer at a 2012 meeting, according to Commerce staffer Sam Smith. The lawyer set up the meeting to pressure Commerce Dept. officials to help Melgen with a costly contract dispute, Smith said.

“He was very aggressive and threatening and constantly brought up the fact that he could make trouble for the department and he could be a bull in the Commerce Dept.’s china shop,” Smith told jurors about the meeting with Melgen’s lawyer, Elio Muller.

“He stated that Dr. Melgen had politically influential friends and they could cause a lot of problems for Commerce Dept. if Dr. Melgen didn’t think he was being served well,” Smith added.

When asked who Muller was referring to when he spoke of Melgen’s “politically influential friends,” Smith didn’t hesitate to say Menendez, a senior senator from NJ who stands accused of accepting bribes from Melgen in exchange for official favors.

The government claims Melgen, 63, doled out gifts — including free private jet flights and campaign contributions — to the Democratic senator in exchange for help getting visas for the ophthalmologist’s foreign girlfriends, among other perks.

In this case, Melgen wanted Commerce’s help enforcing a contract he had with the Dominican Republic over his port security business, ICSSI, the feds said.

If resolved, Melgen stood to make upward of $100 million, the feds have said.

The government has said it will show that after Melgen’s efforts with the Commerce Dept. failed, he turned to Menendez.

In exchange, Melgen gave Menendez $60,000, including $20,000 for Menendez’s legal defense fund and $40,000 benefiting Menendez reelection campaign, prosecutors have said.

Menendez and Melgen argue that any gifts and favors exchanged were the result of their decades-long friendship — not bribes.​

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/26/menend...senate-hearings-if-state-dept-didnt-help-pal/

Menendez allegedly threatened Senate hearings if State Dept. didn’t help pal
By Priscilla DeGregory and Kaja Whitehouse
September 26, 2017 | 8:47pm

Pumpkinhead
Getty Images


Sen. Robert "Pumpkinhead" Menendez once threatened the State Dept. with a senate hearing if it failed to act on an international contract dispute that, if resolved, would financially benefit his wealthy West Palm Beach pal, it emerged at his bribery trial Tuesday.

Democratic Senator Robert Menendez threatened the hearing during a March 2012 meeting with State Dept. officials, according to testimony by State Dept. employee Mark Wells.

Wells was not at the meeting, but he took the stand Tuesday to read emails he received afterward about the meeting between Menendez and Bill Brownfield, who was then assistant secretary of state.

“The senator noted displeasure very clearly with current state of affairs and threatened to hold a hearing on the matter if we don’t meet his deadline,” read an email from State Dept. official Todd Levett that CCed Brownfield.

The email warned that Menendez wanted action on his friend’s business interest by July 1.

Menendez called the meeting over a contract dispute his pal, Dr. Salomon Melgen, was having with the Dominican Republic over his port security business, ICSSI, the feds said.

If resolved with the help of the State Dept., Melgen stood to make upward of $100 million on the deal, the feds have said.

The government claims Menendez used the power of his office to help his rich doctor pal, Salomon Melgen, with his personal and business affairs in exchange for free private jet flights, campaign contributions and all-expense-paid vacations.

Menendez and Melgen argue that any gifts and favors exchanged were the result of their decades-long friendship — not bribes.​