US Democratic Senator ‘Sold His Office for a Lifestyle’ of Luxury – Prosecutors

‘A government prosecutor told jurors Wednesday that Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey “sold his office for a lifestyle he couldn’t afford” and exchanged political influence for favors and luxury trips.
Abbe Lowell, Menendez’s attorney, argued that whatever gifts his client received from his longtime friend Salomon Melgen do not constitute bribes, and that although meetings Menendez held with government officials may have ultimately had some bearing on the ophthalmologist’s business interests, in the end they were focused on policy and were simply “what members of Congress do.”
In 2015, both Melgen and Menendez were indicted on multiple bribery and fraud charges, and a conviction could not only signal a shift in the deeply divided US Senate but could also threaten Menendez’s political career, AP reports.’
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