The U.S. Senate may grow more Republican after federal investigators file corruption charges against U.S. Democratic Senator Bob Menendez.
Federal investigators at the Dept. of Justice are expected to file corruption charges against U.S. Senator Bob Menendez. A New Jersey Democrat, Menendez won re-election in 2012. Should he step down or otherwise leave office, Republican Gov. Chris Christie, a likely GOP presidential candidate, would appoint someone to serve out the remainder of Menendez’s term. That person could choose to run for election in 2018.Â
The charges are related to “his relationship with a Florida eye doctor who is a longtime friend and political benefactor,” the New York Times reports. “Federal prosecutors said Mr. Menendez did political favors for the doctor, Salomon Melgen.”
Menendez is widely known for being the head of the DSCC who was slow to react to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley’s disastrous Senatorial campaign, which allowed Republican Scott Brown to take Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts seat.
He was also the target of a fake prostitution scandal reported on initially by the radical right news outlet The Daily Caller. Those charges were found to be unsubstantiated and the women who claimed to be involved later recanted, stated they had been paid to make the accusations.
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