Senator Robert Menendez wants corruption charges against him to be thrown out of the window because the biased prosecutors blatantly violated the independence of Congress and intentionally categorized the campaign donations as ‘crimes’.
The Democrat’s fleet of attorneys filed a series of motions to completely dismiss the 22-count indictment against him and the wealthy Florida eye surgeon, Salomon Melgen which was issued back in April. In over hundreds of pages of court documents, Mr Menendez responds in an aggressive manner to his alleged trading of political favours in exchange for luxury vacations, campaign donations and free air-travel.
The heart of the case against the New Jersey Senator lies in the accusation that Mr Menendez intervened on Dr. Melgen’s behalf in a disagreement with Medicare over it how it should reimburse doctors and also how he pushed for a port security deal where the Florida eye surgeon had a crucial financial interest. Prosecutors tied those acts with closely timed generosities (gifts and donations) from Dr. Melgen to add bribery charges.
“The prosecution has no direct evidence (no witnesses, no recording, no letter, no email) that there ever was a quid pro quo agreement between Senator Menendez and Dr. Melgen (because no such agreement ever occurred). Instead, the prosecution wants to introduce Senator Menendez’s legislative acts into evidence — something the speech or debate clause flatly precludes,” wrote lawyers for both the accused men in a filing to Judge William H. Walls of Federal District Court in New Jersey.
The lawyers also claim that prosecutors skirted a federal appeals court ruling and showed evidence to the grand jury which should have been completely off-limits under the laws governing legislator’s activities.
“Officials frequently sell access by spending time with those who pay to attend fundraising events, and they are quick to answer the phone and lend an ear when major donors call. Even presidents have been known to invite major donors to the White House for coffee or dinner, or even to stay the night in the Lincoln bedroom,” added the motion.
Mr. Menendez’s lawyers even went as far as arguing that in the absolute absence of evidence to prove the accusations, the Justice Department became obsessed with trying to unearth something to charge the Senator with. “The government was not investigating a crime, it was investigating a person,” the lawyers wrote. They added that the prosecutors coerced and intimated witnesses and even inaccurately summarized evidence in front of a grand jury to forcefully get an indictment.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for the Justice Department, commented that prosecutors would respond to those accusations in court documents in due time.
Benzamin H
