Sept. 30, 2017 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux
01:06:07
3840 The Truth About The Sen. Bob Menendez Corruption Trial
New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez and Dominican Republic born ophthalmologist Dr. Salomon Melgen were indicted on public corruption and bribery charges on April 1, 2015. Only two weeks later on April 15, Melgen was also indicted on Medicare fraud charges. At the center of the corruption trial is the long-standing mutually-beneficial relationship between Menendez and Melgen.Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez is the first United States senator on trial for corruption in 36 years and faces six counts of bribery, three counts of honest services fraud, one count of conspiracy, one count of interstate travel to carry out bribery, and one count of making false statements on his congressional financial disclosures to conceal the criminal activity. Melgen faces the same charges, except for the charge related to congressional financial disclosures.If Menendez is convicted and forced out of office before January, current New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would be responsible for picking his replacement – likely meaning another temporary GOP vote from a state which has not elected a Republican Senator since 1972.Your support is essential to Freedomain Radio, which is 100% funded by viewers like you. Please support the show by making a one time donation or signing up for a monthly recurring donation at: http://www.freedomainradio.com/donate
Alright, Stefan Mullen, you hope you're doing well.
This is the very big story that you need to be aware of right now.
The mainstream media, you can barely see a shadow of it being cast by the leftist totalitarian agenda merchants, but this is the truth about the Bob Menendez corruption trial that you really need to understand.
This is the angel of death hovering over the future of the republic in many ways, but I'm going to unpack it for you.
Like a space alien coming out of John Hurt's chest.
So let's dive straight in.
So it's a story about corruption.
And I'm going to start with two words.
New Jersey. Thank you.
I'm done. New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez and Dominican Republic-born ophthalmologist Dr.
Salomon Melgan were indicted on public corruption and bribery charges on April 1st, 2015.
Only two weeks later, on April 15th, Melgan was also indicted on Medicare fraud charges.
At the center of the corruption trial is the long-standing mutually beneficial relationship between Menendez and Melgan.
Democrat Senator Bob Menendez is the first United States Senator on trial for corruption in 36 years and faces six counts of bribery, three counts of honest services fraud, one count of conspiracy, one count of interstate travel to carry out bribery, and one count of making false statements on his congressional financial disclosures to conceal the criminal activity.
Melgen, the good doctor, faces the same charges except for the charge related to congressional financial disclosures.
Of course, he's not a politician.
Now, if Menendez is convicted and forced out of office before January...
Current New Jersey Governor Chris Christie would be responsible for picking his replacement, likely meaning another temporary GOP vote from a state which has not elected a Republican senator since 1972.
Now, this is a big deal.
There's a huge incentive to delay here on the part of the Democrats, because, of course, if Christie appoints someone, and some people have said he may in fact appoint himself, oh, come on, you know.
He's a big enough man to fill both positions.
But a lot of these votes are coming down to like one vote or two votes, you know, repealing Obamacare.
Obamacare itself came down to a vote.
And so this is a big deal.
This could be a big shift in power.
And you should be hearing a lot more about this than you are.
So, Salomon Melgan, Medicare fraud.
So between 2008 and the end of 2013, ophthalmologist Dr.
Salomon Melgan and his practice, vitreo retinal consultants billed Medicare for more than, are you ready, $190 million, receiving an estimated $105 million.
In payments. Several of the top retinal specialists in the United States testified that Melgan used, quote, obsolete, end quote, testing methods that were also described as poorly done, necessitating additional billable testing to diagnose patients with wet macular degeneration and other issues.
Wet macular degeneration.
I believe that is the proposed title of Lena Dunham's autobiography.
So basically there are two types of macular degeneration.
There's dry and there's wet.
So dry macular degeneration can be cured.
It's a pretty common eye disorder among people over 65.
It causes blurred or reduced central vision, although often vastly increased central planning, economically speaking.
Wet macular degeneration is caused by abnormal blood vessels that leak fluid or blood into part of the retina responsible for central vision.
Treatment of wet macular degeneration is with the injection of drugs, typically Lucentis, and this drug is injected into the impacted eye or eyes and can help reduce or recover vision loss.
Now, upon further examination, many of Melgan's patients didn't even have wet macular degeneration, as many had the untreatable dry counterpart, while others had untreatable already blind or shrunken eyes, and in one case, a prosthetic eye, right? So if you're billing people for injections of a medicine for an eye disorder which can't be cured by any medicine, let alone that one, I guess that's sort of where the problem lies.
One patient, Kermit Foster, said, I had to keep reminding them, that's a fake eye!
So similar to his testing methods, Melgan frequently used outdated laser eye treatments, which carry significantly greater risks than drug injections, which are now the standard treatment.
So just think of some giant, I guess, goblin-peddling medieval laser pointed at your eyeball.
So Philadelphia's Wills Eye Hospital ophthalmologist-in-chief, Dr.
Julia Haller, said, The laser puts permanent scars on the retina.
It's not like cutting a fingernail.
This is serious stuff.
It's terrible and disgraceful, and I'm embarrassed for our entire profession.
Okay, dial it back a little good doctorate.
Like one person, maybe more than one, but this one who got caught...
So according to the Palm Beach Post, quote, Haller said she was stunned Melgan billed Medicare for another type of scan when it produced unreadable images.
The type of dye it requires has to be injected for it to get in the bloodstream.
Instead, when Melgan's technicians couldn't find good veins in elderly patients or they simply objected, Melgan allowed them to take the dye orally, right?
It's got to be in the bloodstream to get to the eyes.
You put it in... The belly, I don't think it does nearly quite as much good, and I'm not even a doctor.
So throughout her testimony, Dr.
Julia Haller used the terms elder abuse, unconscionable, horrifying, and barbaric to describe Melgan's methods.
When asked to compare Melgan's practices to industry standards, Dr.
Haller noted, quote,"...if one is on Pluto, the other is in another galaxy, far, far away." Several lawsuits also allege that Melgan used single-dose vials of Lucentis on multiple patients by having leftover medication recombined.
Right, so there's a little bit extra in case there's spillage or whatever and you recombine.
Now, this greatly increases the risk of infection and defying Food and Drug Administration guidelines, centers for disease controls, warnings, all while also billing Medicare and other healthcare providers for the full rate.
According to the Department of Justice, and I quote, his lucrative practice was threatened in 2009 when the post-payment review of his Lucentis claims by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, revealed that he had billed Medicare for millions of dollars worth of the drug that he never actually bought, revealed that he had billed Medicare for millions of dollars worth of the drug that he never actually bought, leading to a formal demand that he repay Medicare $8.9
Now, this is almost 10 years ago.
I mean, that's when $8.9 million is quite a lot.
By the way, the US dollar has lost 12% of its value so far this year.
Hard to imagine why American healthcare is so expensive.
So Vitrio Retinal Consultants, this is his company, regularly treated nearly 100 patients.
Each day. I guess more eyeballs.
And was accused of having technicians fill out patient charts before examinations even occurred.
So they're psychic, too.
It's really quite a skill set they've got going on there.
Technician Paul Juez, who trained in optometry while in Mexico and immigrated to the United States when Melgan offered him work, defended the accused doctor, noting, I believe in him.
It's fine stuff.
Don't worry folks, they're totally sending their best.
Mel can even bill Medicare $615,000 for expenses related to a single patient, including 44 of the dangerous focal laser treatments and 133 Lucentis injections.
I mean, one person, one person gets these giant lasers, 133 Lucentus injections.
What is he, trying to create the next Marvel superhero?
Look, I have created radioactive cyclops robot man!
He glows and sees forever.
Oh, maybe he was auditioning to be the Eye of Sauron.
I don't know. So while Melgan's closest competitor received reimbursements for $33.6 million over six years for Lucentus injections...
He, Melgen, billed $57.3 million.
And this is what happens when the government gets involved in healthcare.
Cost control goes out the window.
Can you imagine? You open up a bill for $615,000.
You're going to raise a bit of a stink, which is why you don't get these bills.
So this staggering disparity wasn't the result of volume or Melgen's work ethic, either, as during the reviewed years, other doctors typically treated two or three times as many patients.
Okay, so I want to explain this chart just a little bit.
This is Medicare reimbursement 2008 to 2013.
So the top sort of orangey-yellow line, that's really zoomed in.
We had to just sort of make it visible.
It's a national median. This is the typical amount paid.
It's the midpoint of the amount almost all doctors received.
So for ultrasound tests, the national median, $1,410.
Dr. Salomon Melgan, $3,700,000.
Fluoresign angiograms.
Well, national median, $371,969.
Dr. Salomon Melgen, $10,200,000.
It's kind of a gap.
Laser treatments, just over $6,000 is the national median.
Dr. Salomon Melgen, $8,400,000.
Hmm. A little bit off the beaten path.
A little bit off the bell curve there.
Lucentis injections.
Well, you see, the national medium is $3 million.
Medicare reimbursements, 2008 to 2013.
As mentioned, Dr. Salomon Melkin.
$57,300,000.
So... That's quite a bit more.
Good thing they were right on top of that.
Good thing they got their money back, at least for a while.
So, let's turn to Bob Menendez.
Born in New York City, two Cuban immigrants.
I don't know. I'm sure it's just me.
I'm sure it's just me. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
I'm sure, positive, it's just me.
But it seems like a lot of these Medicare, Medicaid, frauds, and so on, it seems like it's not a lot of Anglos, not a lot of John Smiths in there.
I haven't seen a muck. I've seen some Oviches and other things like that, but...
I'm not sure other countries are always sending their best.
January 17th, 2006.
Bob Menendez assumed office as a United States Senator from New Jersey.
Now, the Department of Justice alleges that the pattern of corruption and bribery between Senator Menendez and Dr.
Salomon Melgan... These guys were really, really close.
They seemed to be closer in real life than they actually were in the alphabet.
Now, Dr.
Melgan allegedly treated Menendez to regular, all expenses paid, getaways to the Dominican Republic, including free luxury airfare and lodging for Menendez and his personal guests.
Oh, yes. We'll be talking about Menendez, guests, and what happened in the Dominican in just a few minutes, in the not-safe-for-work portion of this chat.
On July 24, 2008, Menendez intervened on behalf of Melgan to secure a visa for a Brazilian actress and nude model, directing his senior policy advisor to contact the State Department, encouraging them to provide, quote, careful consideration, end quote, To the application.
Brazilian, you know, I wanted to put the actress in quotes there, but maybe she is.
Nude model. So, I guess?
Well, she's not a dreamer, but I'm sure that people have wet dreams about her.
So, that's nice.
You know, if you're going to break the law and come into the country illegally or semi-legally or bend the rules to get somebody into the country, does it help if they're hot?
Please discuss amongst yourselves.
A similar scenario occurred on at least three other occasions related to Melgan's foreign-born girlfriends.
In one situation, after an initial visa application was denied, only to later be approved, a Menendez staffer emailed his chief of staff, noting, and I quote, So, uh... Seems to be quite a paper trail, I guess.
I guess they're not really excellent at covering their tracks.
On July 17th, 2009, Menendez arranged a call with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS director, and used an aggressive tone to advocate on Melgan's behalf related to the over $8.9 million in fraudulent Medicare billings.
But the director did not give in to the pressure.
Oh, and he's married.
Menendez. All right, let's move on.
Weeks later, Menendez reportedly emailed his chief of staff, quote, Dr.
Melgan is still in the non-litigant stage, so we should determine who has the best juice at CMS and Department of Health.
Now listen, just between you and I, just keep this private, just between you and I, my friend.
We kind of always know that politics works this way, right?
That you have your friends and your friends do you favors and they pull strings for you.
This is kind of a confirmation.
If this is not punished, this is what I mean when I say that the size of death hangs over the neck of the republic itself.
This is kind of what we suspect politics has degenerated into.
And there seems to be significant evidence to this if it's found to be true, if Menendez turns out to be guilty, and nothing happens.
Or, in my view, if nothing happens, that is very significant.
On January 24th, 2010, Menendez spoke to CNN about the Supreme Court's Citizens United v.
FEC decision. So after making all these phone calls and getting all these visas, quote, He's outraged, outraged, that money might be used to influence politics.
Appalling! Appalling.
Shocked to find out there was gambling going on.
On March 24, 2010, Menendez sent Melgan an email requesting specific high-end accommodations for a three-day trip to Paris, France, even specifying how his friend should procure the arrangements.
And within a single day, Melgan had complied.
Now, of course, when you are accused of corruption and influence peddling and so on, one defense which we'll get to later is, hey, man, we're just friends.
It's a bromance. We got this going down.
We're just, you know, we're tight. We're buds.
We're homies. We hang.
You know, I don't know.
I don't know how good your friends are.
I have a lot of good friends.
I don't really think I have anyone I could just phone up and say, get me really expensive accommodations in France now.
And they'll be like, okay, Steph, I'll go make the calls.
So some really, really good friends.
Almost... almost too good.
Unsurprisingly, Menendez, Senator Menendez, never disclosed these trips or gifts on his annual financial disclosure forms.
Hmm. Well, it's a good thing they have those forms, then.
Excellent. According to the Department of Justice, quote, at that time the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reached out to the White House Deputy Chief of Staff informing her that Menendez was upset about how a Florida ophthalmologist was being treated by CMS and asking that she call the agency.
Ah, Harry Reid.
Ah, there's some speculation that Reid retired, perhaps in part because of getting caught up in this increasingly sticky, vile, disgusting web-slash-noose on the neck of the Republic.
I guess I'll leave that to you to research for yourself.
According to the Department of Justice, again, quote, in early 2012, Melgan acquired full control of a Dominican company, ICCSI, SA, which had a contract giving it the exclusive right to install and operate x-ray imaging equipment in the Dominican Republic's ports for up to 20 years.
So this is the stuff coming in and out.
You x-ray it and so on to make sure that Nothing untoward is coming in or maybe even going out.
So they've got this exclusive right to do all of this x-ray imaging.
Well, up to 20 years.
The contract is estimated to be valued at between $125 million and $500 million.
And according to Dominican magazine, La Lupa Sin Trabas, Melgan paid...
A little below market value, if I understand this correctly.
Remember, valued between $125 and $500 million, this company, he paid $100,000 for the company.
It's entirely possible he has his fingers in a few Dominican pies as well.
According to the Department of Justice, again, before Melgan's acquisition, performance of the contract had been tied up in litigation between the government and I wonder how he's going to go about that.
Any guesses? Anyone? Bueller?
Anyone? Yes? Okay. According to the American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic Executive Vice President William Malamud, End quote.
That's just crazy. I mean, it's one thing to sell your ports to the Saudis, your port security to the Saudis.
It's quite another thing to have, well, here's a doctor.
This involves x-rays.
Two and two make four. It's a perfect fit.
I don't know how anything gets done at all in government.
Except the wrong thing.
So despite zero experience in border security as a trained ophthalmologist, Melgen was now in business and had a connection which could help make his new acquisition very lucrative.
Strangely enough, it still gets called a free market by some people.
On May 10, 2012, Menendez's office set up a meeting with an assistant secretary of state to discuss the status of the multi-million dollar ICCSISA contract.
That same day, Melgan allegedly agreed to give $60,000 to entities which directly supported Menendez in a way intended to obfuscate or hide the source of the funds.
Right? So you understand? Menendez's office sets up a meeting to try and figure out how to break this logjam between this company that Melgan has acquired and the Dominican government.
Hmm. Now, it's a Dominican company.
It is the Dominican government.
Why is the Secretary of State, why is the State Department care?
Why do they care? Why do they care?
Is this big on the list of big problems with American foreign policy?
I would think not. But, you know, you grease the hand, you get the results, as some would say.
Menendez's chief of staff reportedly instructed Melgan's personal assistant on how to make the payments.
And I quote... Four family members contribute $10,000 each to New Jersey Democratic State Committee Victory Federal Account.
Two family members contribute $10,000 each to the Fund to Uphold the Constitution.
Oh! Do you have to pray to the irony gods to get the names of these shell nonsense?
Sorry. Two family members contribute $10,000 each to the fund to uphold the Constitution.
It would be great if the contributions could be sent via FedEx to my home address, and I'll distribute them once I receive them.
Maybe wrapped up in a carpet, I don't know.
According to the Department of Justice again, quote, On the memo line of the check, the words MFS contribution were written and subsequently crossed out.
MFS are the initials of Menendez for Senate, the name of Menendez's Senate campaign committee to which Melgen already had contributed the maximum allowed under federal law.
I understand. Couldn't top that one up without raising a lot of flags.
No, just cross it out, write in something else.
Department of Justice says finally Melgan's daughter and her husband also wrote a $20,000 check to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.
Like the check written by Melgan and his wife, the memo line bore the crossed-out words MFS, Menendez, contribution.
Bank records will reveal to the jury that Melgan simultaneously reimbursed the couple with a $20,000 check from his ophthalmology practice, VRC, leaving no question about who the benefactor really was.
I know it's a bit complicated, a little bit of thread to cross here, but yeah.
He wanted this legal situation resolved between the company he bought and the Dominicans, and the men at his office set up a meeting with the Assistant Secretary of State.
Boom! $60,000 to entities supporting Menendez.
You know, it's kind of, as far as I understand it, the RICO Act, you don't have to show everything.
You just have to show a consistent pattern of behavior, of benefits, and so on.
Things were a little different for politicians, which we'll get to soon.
Now, more coin shows up later, but it's just interesting.
$60,000. It's not a small amount of money, don't get me wrong.
But relative to the 500 million that could be gleaned from this contract with the Dominican Republic government, it's just, you know, virtue is not sold for a huge amount of coin.
It's the 30 pieces of silver rather than the 20 tons of gold.
On May 16, 2012, Menendez allegedly met with the Assistant Secretary of State to discuss the department's lack of initiative to resolve Melgan's Dominican Republic contract dispute.
If only there were other things going on in the world that might get their attention somehow.
Department of Justice said...
Now, by the by, I have no idea what kind of x-rays are being performed...
In the Dominican Republic's ports at this point, while this is all tied up, seems somewhat important to me.
On June 1st, 2012, Melgan reportedly joined Menendez at the annual Menendez fundraiser Pegasus Dinner and delivered a $300,000 VRC check made payable to Majority PAC, a super PAC supporting Democratic Senate candidates, but specifically earmarked the funds for New Jersey.
See, you got caps on what you can donate to politicians.
But does it really matter?
Does it really matter?
According to the Department of Justice, passing the contribution through Majority PAC, which was not required to disclose Menendez's name or the New Jersey earmark on its public FEC filing, left no trace of the New Jersey senator.
On June 7, 2012, Menendez met with the highest-ranking official at the CMS, the Oversight Committee for Medicare, its acting administrator, and further pushed for them to change their reimbursement policy, which would require Melgan to repay $8.9 million in fraudulent billings.
Just change your policy!
I got your kids in a sack!
I'm just kidding about that.
But there is this kind of scratch-my-back kind of stuff.
On July 2nd, the CMS acting administrator informed Menendez that the policy would not be changed.
And the senator threatened to contact the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary.
He's just barking his way up the chain, trying to get a favor for his friend.
At a Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee hearing on July 31, 2012, and did you ever think one of those would be interesting?
Well, think again.
Menendez publicly pressured State Department officials to send a message to the Dominican Republic that they must not violate contracts with American-owned companies.
It's just great that he has so much time to help his friend.
What a buddy. Pretty much Sam Wise Menendez.
On August 2nd, 2012, Menendez met with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in Majority Leader Harry Reid's capital office and again advocated for Melgan, but was again rebuffed with the Secretary allegedly claiming she lacked the authority to intervene.
On October 12th, 2012, Melgan issued a second $300,000 VRC check to Majority PAC. Again, earmarked exclusively for New Jersey and another $100,000 in VRC checks to other New Jersey Democratic Party organizations.
See, this is how this fog is put out, and this is where these people slither under, right?
Because if you're just giving to the Democrats, it's one thing.
If you're giving to the Democrats and you're saying this is just for New Jersey, then clearly it's to help your friend who's currently trying to get you meetings and get you squared away with the Dominican Republic.
Government so you can start printing money with your x-ray devices.
But this is how they work around.
From May to October 2012, Melkin contributed a total of $771,500 to Menendez's various campaign, re-election committees and legal defense funds.
Huh. It's really pretty forward thinking when you think about it.
Going to give this friend of mine, who allegedly is extremely corrupt, going to give him a lot of money for his legal defense funds.
Now that's seeing a little bit over the horizon, wouldn't you say?
That kind of forward thinking, boy, it'd be great to harness that for the power of good, wouldn't it?
On October 19, 2012, Melgan sent Menendez and his staff a memorandum asserting that the HHS secretary did reportedly have the authority to intervene in his Medicare appeal.
He's persistent.
He's like a dog on the leg of a mail carrier.
Now, things took a somewhat seedy turn at this point and Yeah, we talked a little bit about this earlier, so let's hold our nose and dive in.
November 1st, 2012, Daily Caller published an article by Matthew Boyle with contributions from Charles C. Johnson titled, quote, Women, Senator Bob Menendez Paid Us for Sex in the Dominican Republic.
The article featured interviews with two Dominican Republic prostitutes who claimed Menendez agreed to pay them $500 for For sex acts, but they only received $100 each.
Now, I'm no expert in this, I've never paid for sex, but the Dominican Republic is not the richest country in the world.
I would assume that the prostitutes are not paid, you know, high-class New York City call girl rates.
My only question is this, and I'm pretty sure it's a question that will never be answered, but I will leave it to your imagination.
What kind of freaky shit do you have to be into where the Dominican Republic prostitutes won't do it for less than 500 bucks?
That is...
You've got to bid people up in that part of the world and that is some really, really freaky shit.
And look at that. Well, you saved 300 bucks.
And when you paid them 100 each, you saved 300 bucks.
I bet you that's going to come back and bite you in the ass.
Wait. Bite you in the ass?
Maybe that had something to do with the freaky shit.
Who knows? We may never know for sure.
Menendez spokeswoman Tricia Enright said, We're not going to respond to a completely false accusation.
While Menendez dismissed the prostitution allegations as a right-wing smear, they revealed for the first time that the senator had flown on Melgan's private jet multiple times without the required financial disclosure documentation.
Huh. Private jets.
Sex scandals. It's ringing some kind of bell.
Oh well, I'm sure we'll get to that one at some point as well.
On January 4th, 2013, Menendez wrote Melgan a $58,500 check to cover two known round-trip flights.
Okay, that seems a little bit like shutting the bound door after the horse has left, and that is a pretty expensive way to get to the Dominican Republic twice.
On January 30, 2013, Melgan's offices were searched by the FBI, and in response, Menendez issued a statement, which the Department of Justice has recently claimed to be an outright lie.
Quote, Senator Menendez has traveled on Dr.
Melgan's plane on three occasions, all of which have been paid for and reported appropriately.
Well, turns out he traveled more.
Now, he's not under oath when he puts out that statement, but...
He's still not telling the truth, according to the DOJ. At the time, the Miami Herald reported that Melgan also had, and I quote, an outstanding IRS lien of $11.1 million for taxes owed from 2006 to 2009.
Excellent. Fantastic. Good job, doctor.
Not only are you ripping off the taxpayer, but you're not paying any taxes.
Double whammy.
And also, you know, just think of these millions of dollars from Medicare.
This is money not available to other people for other medical procedures.
I mean, there's something... Morally revolting in medical fraud because, you know, you take people's money, they still have their health.
But if you take their health, they really don't have anything.
And think of the people who may have died.
Think of the people who may have got sicker and sicker because there was not enough resources available because this guy had hoovered it all up with his giant medieval lasers.
According to the Department of Justice, the truth is that Menendez and his personal guests had enjoyed more than a dozen flights on Melgan's private jet dating back at least as far as 2006.
Not a single one of which Menendez had paid for or reported on his annual financial disclosure forms.
So that's a lot.
So the guy, what has to repay $8-9 million, owes over $11 million in taxes, but still has a private jet.
On January 30, 2013, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Crewe, published an email authored by a young Dominican woman alleging that she slept with Menendez at a series of sex parties supposedly organized by Melgan.
And I quote, That senator also likes the youngest and newest girls.
In the beginning, he seemed so serious because he never spoke to anyone, but he is just like the others and has just about the same tastes as the doctor, very refined.
I think they were taking us more often to get us checked medically because of him.
Don't want to spread something to your ever-loving, all-suffering wife.
This woman, young Dominican woman, said, The first time we had sex was February, and then in May and June.
I recall his visit in June so well because that month was my 17th birthday.
Ah, so she was 16.
You got to look up some pictures of these people.
Well, I think there was a scene.
Jabba the Hutt, Princess Leia, something like that.
16! And what's the age of consent in the Dominican Republic?
That's right! 18!
I'm no lawyer. Seems like statutory rape to me.
Corruption of a minor? Who knows?
Ugh... And Anthony Weiner goes to jail for sexting.
Gross. Understandable.
Corruption of a minor. Whatever the hell was thrown at him.
But this... Crewe also announced that in May 2012, they passed information to ABC News, who did not run a story.
Yeah, because people don't have any interest in sex and corruption or anything like that.
Good heavens. No, it's because he's a Democrat.
If you want to do bad things, it's not like the Democrats are just full of bad people by accident.
If you want to do bad things, you become a Democrat so the media will cover for you forever.
Just ask Monita Roderick.
ABC News did not run a story.
On July 17, 2012, Crewe approached the Department of Justice and the FBI to request a formal investigation into Menendez and his activities.
Cover up, cover up, cover up, cover up.
Over time, multiple women and legal representatives would be brought forward related to the Menendez prostitution allegations, and then they would recant their stories only for additional allegations to surface.
On July 31st, 2013, the New York Times published a story titled, Senator Has Long Ties to Donor Under Scrutiny, which drew mainstream attention to Menendez, just as he was on the verge of gaining additional power through becoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Question, just a little bit of a quiz for you here.
If it was a Republican senator, do you think the word Republican would be in the title?
Just something to ponder.
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee?
Well, I guess allegedly he does have a lot of experience in foreign relations.
National Legal and Policy Center Chairman Ken Bohm said, At a minimum, the public is entitled to know more about this relationship.
It's a matter of transparency and accountability.
On February 1st, 2013, Menendez becomes chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
What does he think he is?
Some Italian politician?
Now, amid calls for Menendez to step down, as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Chuck Schumer stood by him.
Quote,"...I don't believe that.
I've dealt with him all the years.
He's a straight shooter." He's really needed on both immigration and foreign affairs, and I don't agree with the call for him to step down.
He's not only a friend, I think he's a very good legislator.
If this guy is corrupt, what does it say about the judgment of everyone around him?
Can't recognize bad people.
He has all the power in the known universe, politicians.
On February 4th, 2013, Menendez told CNN the reason he had recently submitted the $58,500 check, right, that was for the flights to the Dominican.
He said, well, I was in a big travel schedule in 2010, chair of the DSCC, plus my own campaign getting ready for a re-election cycle.
And in the process of all of that, it unfortunately fell through the cracks that our processes didn't catch moving forward and making sure we paid.
Word salad, yummy, yummy.
Nearly a month later, Menendez allegedly repeated the three occasions claim in Voxy, a Latino-oriented online newspaper owned by Dr.
Melgan himself. There's an objective source for you.
It's almost like the New York Times and Marx.
And surprisingly, this Latino-oriented online newspaper, Voxy, strongly advocated for Melgan's port security deal and depicted Mr.
Menendez as a hero among the Latin base.
Now, of course, this is, you know, if you think you're getting in trouble and you're part of a minority, you, of course, try and rouse up as much minority resentment and loyalty as humanly possible, because diversity is our strength.
Diversity is our strength.
On March 6, 2015, major media outlets reported that criminal corruption charges would likely be filed against Senator Menendez following the conclusion of a grand jury investigation.
Now, of course, these are all supposed to be sealed and secret and so on, and he was like, oh, the word got out, and anyway...
On April 1st, 2015, Menendez and Melgen were indicted on corruption and bribery charges.
The New Jersey Star-Ledger editorial board published an editorial titled, Menendez, resign and spare us the drama!
On April 2nd, 2015.
It's not just drama. I hate that word, but it's drama.
No drama, Obama. It's not drama.
And this is very, very serious stuff.
So, they said...
U.S. Senator Robert Menendez now begins a fight for his political life that could last for years.
Wait, did they mention his party?
No? Huh.
It's odd. Maybe ink is really expensive.
Anyway. They're going to say New Jersey would be better off if he would resign and conduct that battle on his own time.
The state needs a respected senator who is focused on his job, not a tarnished defendant who spends his days fending off credible charges of corruption and raising money for his legal defense.
Yeah, because heaven forbid he'd do anything that wouldn't serve the people of New Jersey really well.
The New York Times editorial board published an editorial titled, Step Down, Senator Robert Menendez, on April 2, 2015.
And I quote, Mr.
Menendez is evidently not in a hurry to get to the stage of contrition, having warned on Wednesday that he's not going anywhere.
He would be doing a disservice to New Jersey by clinging to power as a disgraced politician.
His colleagues in the Senate should demand that he step aside.
Senator Chuck Schumer on April 1st, 2015.
April 1st. Isn't that all Fool's Day?
Or is it just one Fool's Day?
Anyway, he said, Menendez is one of the best legislators in the Senate and is always fighting hard for the people of his state.
I am confident he will continue to do so in the weeks and months ahead.
On June 17, 2015, District Judge William Walls denied a request.
For Menendez to move his trial from New York, New Jersey to Washington, D.C. Hey, finally!
A wall that works!
And he said, the court has no reason to believe that New Jersey's jury pool will demonstrate more partisanship or bias than a jury pool in Washington.
Despite the number of witnesses in Washington, the practical inconvenience of traveling to Newark from Washington is little.
Menendez attempted to get the corruption and bribery case dismissed by claiming the investigation was, one, tainted by allegations of underage prostitution.
Two, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the bribery conviction of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell in June 2016, and the precedent placed specific limits on bribery charges.
Now, that's a big topic. We won't deal with it here if you want to look it up yourself, but this is a big precedent thing which makes it very, very hard.
To pin corruption charges on politicians.
Funny how that works.
Department of Justice, August 24th, 2015 said, as the defendants note, this investigation began with serious and specific allegations involving child prostitution.
Presented with that information, the government, including experienced prosecutors from the Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity section, took the only responsible course possible.
It conducted an investigation.
I just want to point this out.
This stuff was not pursued.
Maybe they felt they could just get him on the corruption stuff and all that.
But the Department of Justice regarding this child prostitution, right?
Serious and specific allegations.
Not proof. Not proof.
But that's how they refer to it.
The DOJ went on to say, As would be done in the normal course,
the government took responsible steps to investigate these serious criminal allegations, which were not so easily disprovable, as the defendants suggest.
Some eyewitnesses described a party attended by Defendant Melgan in Casa de Campo, where Defendant Melgan has a home and where Defendant Menendez often visited involving prostitutes.
Hoors and hoors and hoors.
Department of Justice, August 24, 2015, said, Furthermore, defendant Melgan has flown numerous young women from the United States and from other countries on his private jet to the Dominican Republic.
Many of these young women received substantial financial support from defendant Melgan.
For example, defendant Melgan flew two young women whom he met while they were performing at a South Florida gentleman's club on his private jet to his villa in Casa de Campo the day after paying one young woman $1,000 and the other young women $2,000.
Maybe that's what pissed off the Dominican prostitutes that the Americans were getting so much more money.
They said, indeed, one of the defendant Melgan's pilots described young girls who looked like escorts traveling at various times on defendant Melgan's private jet.
Some young women who received substantial sums of money from defendant Melgan were in the same place as defendant Menendez at the same time.
Moreover, When the allegations were first reported, defendant Menendez defended himself with public statements that are easily disprovable.
Specifically, he repeated several times that he had only flown on defendant Melgan's private jet on three occasions.
That representation is demonstrably false.
Confronted with corroborating evidence of such serious crimes, it would have been an inexcusable abdication of responsibility not to investigate these allegations.
Menendez spokeswoman Tricia Enright said,"...the motions to dismiss that were filed earlier by Menendez showed how the DOJ tried to make up for weak allegations about public corruption by soliciting allegations about sex.
The oppositions the DOJ filed continue that refrain, now with new salacious and baseless allegations again having nothing to do with the actual charges in the case.
While talk of prostitution may make for good headlines, it has absolutely nothing to do with this case." And apparently that's where the defense line is.
Well, there's talk about prostitutes, but it's got nothing to do with the corruption case.
Ah, and thus we ascend to heaven on a shoestring of halos.
Former federal judge Stephen Oriofsky said, The McDonald decision, so this is the one earlier that overturned a corruption conviction.
He said the McDonnell decision narrows the grounds on which a bribery conviction can be obtained, so prosecutors have to prove more, for example, than setting up meetings.
U.S. District Judge William H. Walls ultimately refused to dismiss the corruption case, and Menendez appealed the decision, hoping the Supreme Court would be willing to overturn the lower court decision and throw out the case.
This all delay and escalate, delay and escalate, just typical.
On September 6, 2016, Fox News highlighted email correspondence showing Clinton associate.
Philip Raines reporting to Chelsea Clinton the morning of Hillary Clinton's January 23, 2013 Benghazi hearing, quote, We wired it that Menendez would provide an opportunity to address two topics we needed to debunk, her actions slash whereabouts on 9-11, and these email from Chris Stevens about moving locations.
So, I mean, I've done a whole presentation on Benghazi, but questions about where she was and emails from Chris Stevens, the murdered ambassador about moving locations and so on.
This seems to be pretty collusionary between Clinton and Group and Menendez.
At the time, Menendez was acting chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and his first two questions to the former Secretary of State referenced what Reins mentioned in his correspondence.
On March 6th, 2017, Salomon Melgin's federal Medicare fraud trial began.
Hey, look at that.
It's only been about 10 years.
That is some speedy justice, my friend.
I mean, on a geological scale.
Relatively speedy. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker on March 31st, 2017.
I stand by Senator Menendez in his continued fight, and I believe that he'll, at the end of the day, prevail.
Good. On March 20th, 2017, the Supreme Court announced that it would, quote, not hear Senator Bob Menendez's DNJ appeal asking that his public corruption indictments be thrown out.
On April 28th, 2017, Dr.
Salomon Melgin was convicted of all 67 counts of Medicare fraud, meaning that he faces a possible sentence of 30 years to life in prison, where, ironically, the government will have to provide his health care.
Boy, 30 years in prison, that's a lot, boy.
That'd be pretty tempting, you know, like cut a deal, give up goods on your friend.
You know, it's a lot of time there.
Just something to think about. Former federal prosecutor Solomon Weisenberg said, The biggest fear I would have if I were representing Menendez is the obvious possibility that the government could use leverage against Dr.
Melgin and say, You could help yourself now if you tell us everything you know.
Menendez's attorney, Abby Lowell, said, Dr.
Melgan's case focused solely on the day-to-day operations of his medical practice and the private care of his patients, specifics of which the senator could not be aware, nor has it ever been suggested otherwise.
Right, so...
I don't think that most people think that Menendez may have been involved in the Medicare part of things.
It's all the other stuff. Melgan's attorneys have painted their client as a victim and asked the court for leniency in sentencing, and I quote,"...Dr.
Melgan has had gastric bypass surgery and thus requires careful monitoring of his nutrition.
He also suffers from severe depression and has had issues with chemical dependency." He will never again be able to practice medicine.
He will never again achieve professional credibility.
He will never again be able to support his wife, children and grandchild.
There is no possibility that Dr.
Melgan could re-offend. The nature of his offense required him to run a medical practice.
He will never be able to do that again.
See, here's the thing.
Dr. Melgan apparently is really concerned that he might not get good health care after ripping off the health care system and basically denying good health care to other people.
He's really, really concerned about the possibility that his continual and positive health care might be interrupted.
On August 10th, 2017, the sentencing hearing for Melgan was suddenly postponed.
Hmm... Curiouser and curiouser, I say.
Sparking speculation that he could be cooperating with federal prosecutors in the Menendez corruption trial.
While Melgan's attorneys claim, quote, scheduling problems for the delay, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Mara previously denied a request to delay the hearing until after the Menendez trial, but then approved the new request without further comment.
Yeah, scheduling problems.
You know, when you've been sentenced to possibly after 30 years in prison, the judge is like, well, we wouldn't want to give you that sentencing if you've got any scheduling issues.
You just let us know when your mani-pedi is done and you've had a chance to get a back rub and schedule something then.
West Palm Beach defense lawyer Richard Lubin said, I think it would be the first thing you'd think of.
Oh, he must be cooperating with the prosecution.
I would imagine that everybody would think that.
There's a West Palm Beach attorney, Val Rodriguez, said that he is seeing clients who are facing possible 30-year-to-life sentences who are given a four-year sentence after cooperating with federal authorities.
So, let's just say there's a little bit of an incentive there.
Republican political consultant Michael Duhame said, with legal proceedings, you don't fully know what's going on, so you have to just go with what they say.
Menendez's lawyers filed a motion requesting the trial take recesses when Menendez was needed in Washington for official business.
And on September 1st, 2017, U.S. District Judge William Walls denied the request.
Once more, the wall that works.
He said the court will not serve as concierge to any party or lawyer.
The motion from a practical perspective is nigh frivolous.
Defendant Menendez claims that he is in a unique situation because his voting duties are on a schedule not of his own making.
But so are the duties of the radio repairman, the cab driver, and the businessman.
Yet none would claim the right to dictate the schedule of their own criminal trial.
Oh, by the way, Judge Wall...
Great judgment. Radio repairman, not really a thing.
You're kind of showing your age there.
Just wanted to point that out. On September 4th, 2017, the New York Times wrote a 1,300-word article about the Menendez corruption trial.
Oh, bummer.
Ran out of time, ran out of ink, ran out of space.
Who knows? Did not include his political affiliation.
Huh. After a public uproar, Author Nick Carasanti claimed the omission was just an oversight.
On September 6, 2017, the Menendez-Melgan trial began, with expectations that it would last six to eight weeks.
On September 6, 2017, NBC News published an article titled Prosecutors!
Senator Menendez Sold His Office for Ritzy Trips!
where they inaccurately claimed that Menendez was a Republican.
Slightly believable if the errors went the other way from time to time, guys.
Just, you know, maybe mix it up a little bit if you want us to believe this kind of nonsense.
Just, uh, pointing that out.
On September 6th, 2017, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was asked if he stands by Menendez.
Quote, Senator Menendez is issuing a spirited defense.
Code for he doesn't have a ghost of a chance.
That's just me. Let's start again.
Senator Menendez is issuing a spirited defense.
We all believe in the presumption of innocence in this country and Senator Menendez is fighting very hard and we respect that greatly.
Presumption of innocence?
Ooh, ooh, don't get me started over there.
Don't make me come over there, Chuck. Oh yeah, this guy, how are we going to presume that he's innocent?
But Trump is totally a Russian spy and Russia hacked the election.
Voting machines were hacked by Russians.
But, you know, innocent until proven guilty.
You know, if only we could get the left to...
Get down to two rules that they simultaneously break at the same time.
Be a massive improvement. Melgan attorney Kirk Ogroski on September 7th, 2017 Prosecutor Peter Karski said friendship is not a defense to bribery.
I'm here to tell you today that friendship is an absolute defense for bribery.
Because they're friends.
There's no intent to bribe.
When you do things for friends because you love them like a brother, there's no bribe.
We were on a break. The Department of Justice said, it is not uncommon for defendants to establish some evidence of friendship in bribery cases, but still be found guilty.
Just as genuine friendship may underlie a business arrangement, it should come as no surprise that friendship may very well form the foundation of a corrupt endeavor.
Melgan attorney Kirk Ogroski on September 7, 2017.
Sal and Bob were part of a fellowship of Hispanic Americans.
Entrepreneurs, businessmen, doctors, politicians.
You'll hear this at trial.
Their idea was to pay it forward, help young Hispanic Americans improve their lives, lift up their community, play a larger role in their community.
This case isn't only an attack on those two men.
It is an attack on that whole group.
And there it is, my friends.
And it's sad to say...
That any competent attorney would do the same thing.
Out comes the scimitar-like race card.
It's because they're foreigners.
It's because, well, one of them's a foreigner.
It's because they're different.
Racism. And of course, what this is, is an attempt to gin up the ethnic community in the hopes that they'll threaten to burn something down if the decision goes the wrong way, in my particular opinion.
And sadly, you know, or get the media to gin it up or something like that.
Like, sorry guys, not an election year.
You don't need to poke that particular ethnic nest right now.
Diversity is a strength.
Strong smell, anyway. Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz on September 8th, 2017.
The Republican National Committee is putting pressure on Menendez to resign if he is convicted.
Okay, no.
This is tons of editorials.
The New York Times. Lots of people want this guy to resign, even if he wasn't convicted.
Just the shadow of the appearance of...
Resign until it's solved, one way or the other.
Anyway, this is it.
The Republican National Committee is putting pressure on Menendez to resign if he is convicted.
This is yet another example, in my view, of the criminalization of political differences.
Now, I don't know whether he is guilty or innocent.
The jury will determine that.
But we know that the Republican National Committee is trying to turn this into a political advantage because if he doesn't resign immediately, his replacement is named by the Republican governor.
That's a New Jersey election in November, so that's the deal.
Yeah, I don't think it's... I don't think it's political, Alan.
I mean, this is... This is some pretty bad stuff, if it's true.
And if I had to give you my opinion...
Well...
On September 13th, 2017, Melgan's pilot, Robert Nyland, testified that he was so familiar with Menendez that he knew his preferred drink order.
Young Dominican? No, no, that's not a drink.
Or is it... Anyway, the pilot said, myself and the other pilot figured these are items that should be on board if the senator was on the aircraft.
It was common practice for a special passenger to have the special provisions that they want.
So clearly this is pretty salacious stuff.
This is tabloid fodder.
We've got underage prostitutes, we've got corruption, we've got health care, we've got, I mean, you name it.
It's weighing, being weighed in the balance.
So, boy, the networks must have been all over this one.
Smoking up the place with stuff that people are actually quite fascinated in.
Well, we'll see from the views from this video.
So on September 20th, 2017, Newsbusters published an analysis of the Menendez trial coverage between September 5th to 20th.
That's quite a long time. CNN gave it 14 minutes and 11 seconds.
Ooh. Not a lot, but not the worst.
ABC gave it 1 minute and 48 seconds.
CBS spent a grand total of 22 seconds on the entire scandal.
And NBC didn't quite get round to mentioning it at all.
On the other hand, they did have time for Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia!
Now, comparatively, CNN spent over 45 minutes discussing former White House Press Secretary Greimer Wormtongue, sorry, Sean Spicer's Emmy Awards appearance.
So, God, 45 minutes for Sean Spicer hanging off Alec Baldwin at the Emmy Awards.
Just not quite for any of this stuff.
So, hmm, what does this all mean?
Why am I spending so much time on this?
Why is this so endlessly fascinating?
It's not very speedy.
Come on. 2006.
That's quite a long time.
2006, 2007.
The dude, the senator, he's currently voting.
Sure, off you go.
Vote away. Best friend.
Over 60 counts of fraud.
Taking healthcare. You know, boy, you talk about privatizing healthcare.
It's like you're denying healthcare to the poor.
But what do you think happens when you take money for Medicare?
There's less money for other people.
Less money for other procedures.
Right? People can get sick.
People can die from that.
It's not important. So he's currently voting!
Amazing. And it just shows you, if you're a Democrat, you're above the law, you're above media scrutiny, everyone will actively cover up.
And if he escapes, if he gets off, this is all just my opinion, right?
But if he gets off, I mean, this is a new, terrifying law.
I mean, if he gets off, then, you know, culturally, America's not just importing all these third world people, you're importing this third world banana republic mindset.
It's exactly why these countries are so corrupt to begin with.
And nobody knows what to do about this.
Because if the guy gets convicted, if the guy gets convicted, what's he going to do?
He's going to appeal, and then he's going to appeal the appeal, and he's going to try and find more ways to delay, and all this kind of stuff, right?
Hardship wigs, whatever, right?
Nobody knows. It's not like the founders thought this was going to happen or anticipated this.
What's going to happen? He might be able to hold on to his Senate seat even if he's convicted.
Then what? Still voting.
Is he going to be pushed out?
Can you push him out? Nobody knows.
Why would he resign?
I mean, as long as he's necessary, I mean, you want to hang on to that seat for personal reasons.
As long as he's necessary for the Democrats to have that extra vote, they're going to do everything they can to protect him, of course, because Alinsky, because that's how they roll.
And, you know, you only move, when you're rolling, you're only going downhill.
And, of course, what does he know?
Forget about what the R1 brothers know about everyone.
What does this guy know about everyone around him?
I mean, if the doctor is spilling his guts and then Menendez gets caught up and Menendez starts spilling his guts, where does this end?
This is another reason why.
There's probably going to be a lot of pushback to continuing this.
Who is of clean enough conscience to point a finger and follow through in Washington?
And... This is how politics works as a whole, in general.
And there are some exceptions.
I think there are some decently principled politicians in America, as Rand Paul.
There is lots of other...
Congressman King, I just interviewed.
I mean, there's some principled, good, moral politicians out there.
But for the most part, everyone knows how it works.
You give a bunch of money to a politician or to his PAC or in some way support him.
And then you get the meeting.
You get the favors. You're a donor.
You get the favors. And the favors are worth a lot more than the donation, right?
60 grand buys you a company for 100 grand that can net you hundreds of millions of dollars in fees.
This is how it works.
It's hard to avoid, since the government has trillions of dollars that it can dispose of, you can't avoid this kind of corruption in the long run.
That having been said, the common man, the common people who are currently looking very skeptically, very skeptically indeed, at the American legal system as a strange net.
It's a weird inverse net.
It catches the little fish and drives them on the dock to be filleted and sold for parts.
It catches the little fish, but the big fish swim mysteriously through it and To the great feeding grounds of blood-soaked taxpayers on ice.
Come man needs a win.
Somebody needs to go down to show that the political system is not way above the legal system.
I mean, if it is a government of men and not of laws, everybody needs to understand that.
And there are people desperately hoping, desperately hoping that somehow the law is going to work on the powerful.
Because if the law...
Is not working on the powerful.
If the powerful are immune to the law, then the worst among us, the most corrupt among us, are not only going to aim for the greatest power in the land, they are going to achieve it and keep it.
And that's the opposite of what the modern West was founded on.
