- 9/23/2023
Indicted Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez Issues DEFIANT Statement After Indictment
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00:00 New Jersey as well as the Egyptian
00:02 government in exchange for
00:04 receiving hundreds of thousands of
00:06 dollars in gifts including cash,
00:09 a luxury vehicle, even gold bars.
00:11 >> That's right.
00:15 Now Senator Robert Menendez,
00:17 a Democrat,
00:18 is facing federal criminal charges.
00:21 He has been indicted today for
00:23 cartoonishly brazen corruption.
00:26 Allegedly, obviously people are
00:28 innocent until proven guilty.
00:30 But really Menendez did
00:32 a horrendous job of attempting to
00:34 cover up his alleged criminal
00:36 behavior, especially considering
00:38 the fact that he had been
00:40 previously prosecuted in a separate
00:42 corruption scandal.
00:44 He was acquitted in that case due
00:46 to a hung jury.
00:47 The judge then decided to let him
00:49 go.
00:50 Now, here are the details on
00:52 the latest indictment, which also
00:54 has to do with alleged corruption.
00:56 The indictment revolves around
00:57 Menendez's relationship with
00:59 the government of Egypt,
01:01 as well as three businessmen.
01:03 Now, let's watch US Attorney
01:05 Damian Williams, whose office
01:07 brought the indictment against
01:09 Menendez, explain how Menendez
01:11 allegedly did favors for
01:13 Egypt and these businessmen.
01:15 >> The indictment alleges that
01:17 Senator Menendez used his power and
01:19 influence, including his leadership
01:21 role on the Senate Foreign Relations
01:24 Committee to benefit the government
01:26 of Egypt in various ways.
01:27 Among other actions,
01:29 Senator Menendez allegedly
01:31 provided sensitive, non-public US
01:34 government information to Egyptian
01:36 officials, and otherwise took steps
01:39 to secretly aid the government of
01:41 Egypt.
01:42 We also allege that Senator
01:44 Menendez improperly pressured
01:46 a senior official at the US
01:48 Department of Agriculture to
01:50 protect a lucrative monopoly that
01:52 the government of Egypt had awarded
01:55 him, which was a monopoly that
01:57 Hanna then used to fund certain
01:59 bribe payments.
02:00 >> Now, keep in mind,
02:01 Menendez is a part of the Senate
02:03 committee having to do with
02:05 foreign policy.
02:06 So he has quite a bit of influence
02:08 on some of the issues that might
02:10 impact countries like Egypt,
02:12 for example.
02:13 But his wife also allegedly got in
02:16 on the action.
02:17 Her name is Nadine Menendez, and
02:19 she was allegedly involved in some
02:21 of these shady dealings.
02:23 She helped to introduce Menendez to
02:25 one of these businessmen by
02:27 the name of Hanna, who she was
02:29 friends with for years prior to
02:31 meeting Menendez, and that's
02:32 according to the indictment.
02:34 In exchange for Menendez's favors
02:37 to Hanna and Egypt, Nadine was
02:39 promised a low or no show job at
02:41 that businessman's company.
02:43 And she was indicted along with her
02:45 husband as a result of her alleged
02:47 involvement here.
02:49 Now let's hear Williams explain
02:51 Menendez's relationship with
02:52 another businessman or
02:54 two other businessmen,
02:55 Uribe and Davis.
02:56 >> The indictment alleges that
02:58 Senator Menendez used his power and
03:01 influence to try to disrupt
03:02 a criminal investigation and
03:04 prosecution undertaken by
03:06 the New Jersey Attorney General's
03:09 office related to an associate and
03:11 a relative of Uribe.
03:12 Third, the indictment alleges that
03:15 Senator Menendez used his power and
03:17 influence to try to disrupt
03:19 a federal prosecution of Davies.
03:22 In the District of New Jersey,
03:24 in two ways.
03:25 First, by seeking to install
03:27 a United States attorney who he
03:29 thought could be influenced with
03:31 respect to Davies.
03:33 And second, by trying to influence
03:35 that office to act favorably in
03:37 Davies case.
03:38 >> So the full names of the three
03:41 businessmen in question here are
03:43 Whale Hanna, you have Jose Uribe
03:46 and Fred Davies.
03:47 Now in addition to what Menendez is
03:50 accused of, allegedly in exchange
03:53 for the favors that he provided to
03:56 these businessmen, Menendez
03:58 received some pretty nice bribes,
04:01 allegedly, let's watch.
04:04 >> Special agents with the FBI
04:06 executed search warrants on
04:08 the residence and safe deposit box
04:10 of Senator Menendez and
04:12 Nadine Menendez in New Jersey.
04:14 When they got there,
04:16 they discovered approximately $500,000
04:20 stuffed into envelopes and closets.
04:22 Some of the cash was stuffed in
04:24 the Senator's jacket pockets.
04:26 Some of the cash,
04:27 some of the envelopes of cash
04:29 contain Davies fingerprints,
04:31 Davies DNA.
04:32 That's not all, agents also
04:34 discovered a lot of gold,
04:37 gold that was provided by Davies
04:39 and Hanna.
04:41 And the FBI of course found
04:42 the Mercedes Benz that Uribe had
04:45 provided them.
04:46 >> Who keeps the bribes in their
04:49 sports coat?
04:50 I mean, I guess when you get away
04:52 with the corruption the first time,
04:55 you get real brazen about it
04:56 the second time, allegedly.
04:58 But I am curious what you guys
05:00 think about this.
05:01 I'll start with you, Was.
05:02 >> This is just incredible,
05:05 honestly.
05:06 This reminds me of like a Steven
05:08 Seagal flick, this level of just
05:11 blatant corruption on the part of
05:13 a freaking sitting US Senator.
05:16 This isn't penny any stuff, right?
05:18 This guy is some county
05:20 commissioner or some commission of
05:22 some school district.
05:24 This guy is one of the 100 senators
05:26 in the US Senate, and he's taking
05:29 these essentially cheap bribes.
05:32 The idea that they found this guy
05:34 with $500,000 in cash is quite
05:36 hilarious, but luckily Hanna,
05:39 excuse me, Anna, we know why this
05:42 is happening according to
05:44 a statement from him.
05:45 These people are doing it because
05:47 he's Latinx.
05:48 >> Okay, so let me give you
05:49 the statement.
05:50 Let me give you the statement.
05:52 Because, look, I got to be honest.
05:56 This has now become corporate
05:58 Democrat 101 to provide cover for
06:01 any wrongdoing and
06:03 it really grosses me out.
06:05 So this is what he said in
06:06 a statement in response to
06:08 the indictment.
06:09 Those behind this campaign simply
06:11 cannot accept that a first
06:13 generation Latino American from
06:15 humble beginnings could rise to be
06:17 a United States Senator and serve
06:19 with honor and distinction.
06:21 >> Mm-hm.
06:22 >> No, no.
06:23 >> You know what this shows you
06:24 guys?
06:25 This shows that no matter who
06:26 the criminal is, where they come
06:28 from, they're just as ridiculous
06:30 and maybe even don't plan things
06:32 out as others.
06:33 Just because someone's a senator or
06:34 a congressman or a former president
06:36 of the United States doesn't mean
06:38 they know what the hell they're
06:39 doing.
06:40 It means they're greedy and
06:41 they found some ways to use
06:42 the system to benefit themselves
06:43 and their family and their wives or
06:45 whoever else that they're looking
06:46 to help benefit from it.
06:48 So we give people way too much
06:50 credit or way too much ground to
06:52 be like, they're the honorable
06:54 representative from whatever state.
06:56 These folks, some of them,
06:58 are so damn corrupt, just like
07:00 anyone else that's a criminal.
07:01 And then they'll put the cash in
07:03 bags.
07:03 There was a previous Republican,
07:05 a congressman, I believe, who was
07:07 tossing cash out of the window at
07:09 his wife's house when he was
07:10 finally busted.
07:11 They're not as sophisticated as
07:13 they tell us that they are.
07:14 They just tell us that so
07:15 many times that we begin to have
07:16 this level of respect for them.
07:18 When they're just as sloppy and
07:19 messy as any other common criminal.
07:21 And in this case,
07:21 it's the same thing.
07:22 You ask the question, Ana,
07:24 who's dumb enough to stuff a bunch
07:26 of cash in some sport coats and
07:27 have gold bars in the closet and
07:29 have all this hanging out?
07:30 A criminal would.
07:31 But you know what, even worse?
07:33 Maybe even criminals that get away
07:35 with these things as regularly as
07:36 elected officials do is the reason
07:38 why they're so messy.
07:39 They're like,
07:40 what are you going to do?
07:41 Donald Trump literally is being
07:42 exposed for telling some of his
07:44 aides, you never heard that,
07:45 you never saw this.
07:47 That's fourth grade type of stuff.
07:49 They don't have to be
07:50 sophisticated or smart.
07:51 Matter of fact, they're less
07:52 sophisticated and even dumber than
07:54 other criminals because they never
07:55 actually get held accountable for
07:57 the action.
07:58 So this is just another case of that.
08:00 >> Well, I think that politicians,
08:03 it's a different flavor of stupid.
08:07 I think you're right about
08:08 the incompetence, definitely right
08:10 about the corruption,
08:11 generally speaking.
08:12 But what makes this a little
08:14 different is when you're talking
08:16 about a United States Senator who
08:18 has previously gotten away with
08:20 similar charges in a separate case.
08:22 He thinks he's above the law,
08:24 right?
08:24 And it really doesn't matter what
08:27 the political party is.
08:28 I think Trump has that kind of air
08:31 to him.
08:31 And now you see a sitting
08:33 Democratic Senator facing criminal
08:36 federal charges for
08:37 alleged corruption in a country,
08:39 by the way, that has corruption
08:42 baked into the system.
08:43 You got to try real hard to break
08:46 corruption related laws in
08:48 the United States, but he did it.
08:51 I mean, allegedly,
08:52 according to the federal
08:53 prosecutors.
08:54 And that's the other thing I want
08:56 to just quickly mention.
08:57 The indictment brought upon
09:00 Menendez is by the federal
09:02 government, the same federal
09:05 government who is also indicting
09:08 Donald Trump.
09:09 The same federal government that
09:11 is going to experience another
09:13 government shutdown over because
09:16 Republicans in the far right wing
09:18 of the Republican Party would like
09:21 to defund federal prosecutors
09:23 because they're very mad that
09:25 the federal prosecutors are
09:27 pursuing any indictment against
09:29 their beloved Donald Trump.
09:31 So in this case,
09:33 we're talking about federal charges
09:35 that impact a Democrat.
09:36 So what do they say about that?
09:38 Do they maybe provide a little bit
09:40 of funding to the federal
09:42 government to prosecute people
09:43 like Menendez as long as it's
09:45 a Democrat?
09:46 Is that okay?
09:46 I mean, it's just so
09:49 dumb to think of every indictment,
09:52 which is not easy to bring against
09:55 any type of politician.
09:57 Whether we're talking about
09:59 a former president or
10:00 a sitting United States Senator,
10:02 to just automatically brush it off
10:03 as, it's just political and
10:05 nothing more.
10:06 No, you got to have some evidence.
10:08 >> But Hannah, you're referring,
10:09 sorry, go ahead.
10:10 >> Yeah, and in this case,
10:11 it appears that the federal
10:12 prosecutors have some evidence.
10:14 They're not just going to bring
10:15 some weak case against a sitting
10:17 senator.
10:18 >> Why haven't we seen James Comer
10:20 and Jim Jordan on TV talking about
10:21 the Menendez case?
10:22 Yes, they've talked about it to
10:24 an extent that they go from
10:25 the first wave that he got,
10:26 the hung jury or whatever happened
10:27 when he got off for that first time.
10:29 But you're referring to
10:30 the Donald Trump talking about,
10:31 we got to stop defunding
10:32 the government because then we got
10:33 to stop Jack Smith,
10:34 that ridiculousness.
10:35 Not only that, as far as this being
10:36 an aspect of them trying to hold up
10:38 doing the government shutdown thing
10:40 is, it don't even work that way.
10:42 If they hold up the government and
10:44 stop the funding like they think
10:45 they can for Jack Smith's
10:46 investigations and the others,
10:47 some of these cases are state
10:49 investigations and
10:50 state prosecutions.
10:51 You can't hold those up, bro.
10:53 And I was just talking about today
10:54 because there's a Justice
10:55 Department memo from two years ago
10:57 that makes it clear that these
10:58 things are not exempt from
10:59 government shutdowns.
11:01 So follow Donald Trump down
11:02 the stupid road all you want.
11:04 That's why it's currently
11:05 the impeachment inquiry is not
11:07 looking good.
11:08 It's also why this whole thing when
11:10 they're fighting within the House
11:11 over these rules and trying to make
11:13 sure things get shut down so
11:14 they can be more closer to
11:15 Donald Trump's feet.
11:17 Yo, it doesn't work this way
11:18 because he doesn't know what he's
11:19 doing.
11:20 >> I just believe that any
11:23 politician, anyone in a position of
11:26 power who breaks the law,
11:29 who abuses the office he or she has
11:32 the privilege of sitting in,
11:34 should face the consequences of
11:36 that.
11:36 I don't care if we're talking
11:38 about a Republican or a Democrat.
11:39 I ain't got no love for Menendez.
11:40 I don't care.
11:41 Good, good.
11:42 I'm glad that he's being
11:43 prosecuted for this.
11:44 And the fact that he thinks that he
11:47 could sell his influence,
11:49 whether it be to businessmen or
11:51 to politicians in other countries,
11:53 it's disgusting.
11:55 It's against the law.
11:56 And we'll see what the outcome of
11:58 this case will be.
11:59 But for those who are curious,
12:01 Menendez was charged back in 2015
12:04 with illegally accepting favors
12:06 from a Florida eye doctor,
12:08 including flights on a private jet,
12:10 three nights at a five star hotel
12:12 in Paris, and more than $700,000
12:15 in political contributions for
12:17 him and the Democratic Party.
12:19 The case ended in a mistrial after
12:21 jurors were unable to reach
12:23 a unanimous verdict.
12:24 At that point, federal prosecutors
12:26 decided not to retry him.
12:28 But what he's facing charges for
12:30 now are in a completely separate
12:32 corruption related case.
12:35 So again, we'll see how it all
12:37 plays out.
12:37 I just love the fact that he used
12:40 his identity to defend himself as
12:42 if that matters at all.
12:44 [LAUGH] >> Yeah, it's tough because
12:46 it's impossible to commit
12:47 corruption while also being
12:49 a member of the Latinx community.
12:51 Everybody knows that and oftentimes
12:53 liberals and centrists,
12:55 they talk about a loss of or
12:56 a lack of the quorum that we have
12:58 in government, in media.
13:00 And I tend to agree with him,
13:02 this guy didn't even have
13:03 the decency to have a bag man.
13:05 He's actually,
13:06 he's actually receiving the bribes
13:09 and having his wife negotiate on
13:11 his behalf, it's kind of crazy.
13:13 >> It absolutely is crazy.
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