'Where is the crime exactly?' An update on Sen. Bob Menendez's corruption trial, a month in

[DonViejo]

By Amber Phillips October 6 at 7:00 AM

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) has spent the past month on trial in New Jersey for allegations that he was bribed with villa stays, private plane flights and campaign donations to help a wealthy donor resolve several disputes with the government. It's the first federal bribery trial of a sitting U.S. senator in more than three decades, and if he's found guilty over the next few weeks, it could have political implications for President Trump's agenda.

Despite being covered by local and national news organizations daily, this trial has flown under the radar in a Washington awash with news. But after a big week where an Obama Cabinet member testified, we called up Thomas Moriarty, the federal courts reporter for N.J. Advance Media, to get caught up. Our conversation, spread out over two different days, has been edited for length and clarity.

THE FIX: So, what's the headline or headline question from the trial so far?

Moriarty: The headline question is really: Where is the crime exactly? If there is a crime, where is it?

That's the defense's whole position, that there is no crime here and there is no quid pro quo. That these guys were friends. The gifts were just that, they were gifts. And Menendez's meetings were just legitimate legislative activity about policies he was concerned about.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/10/06/where-is-the-crime-exactly-an-update-on-sen-bob-menendezs-corruption-trial-a-month-in

[Zoonart]

1. The crime?

Weilding influence while being Democrat.

[Not Ruth]

2. Not guilty would be my vote

[procon]

3. Robert's Court did find Virginia's Republican Governor Bob McDonnell guilty, they can't

look at Menendez, a Democrat, any differently. McDonnell got off for doing much the same thing as Menendez is charged with, accepting gifts and money from a wealthy constituent who sought the governor’s help in his business interests. In the court's shortsighted decision, if this behavior is OK for Republicana, then it's also OK for Democrats.

Until Congress gets real about ending the corrupting influence of legalized bribe money at all levels of
politics, and actually passes strict ethics regulation that eliminate any doubt about what it acceptable and what is not, cases like McDonnell and Menendez will keep making news.