Staff Reports
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is dodging questions about Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), whose legal troubles have become a real headache for the New Jersey Democrat. Menendez, who used to be the big cheese at the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had to step down when he got hit with bribery charges last September. He was even slapped with the label of acting as a foreign agent, and it would be pretty cringeworthy if he showed up at a hush-hush briefing about Ukraine today.
Chuck Schumer Didn't Want to Answer This Question About Bob Menendez https://t.co/N1occFBonN
— Woodrow Williams (@Woodrow17165268) December 6, 2023
CNN’s Manu Raju tried to get some straight answers from Schumer, but the senator was a sly fox, telling Raju to go pester Mr. Menendez himself. When the classified briefing was over, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), the new head honcho of the Senate Foreign Relations, spilled the beans that Menendez was a no-show. Schumer just parroted his previous line: go bug Bob about it.
So, was Menendez playing hooky or not? It wouldn’t be surprising if he was sneaking around, given the Democrats’ knack for being two-faced ever since President Trump came on the scene. With his bold attitude toward the charges, it wouldn’t shock anyone if he had snuck into that briefing. The accusations of being a foreign agent came down in late October, but Menendez’s lawyers probably gave him the lowdown to lay low and not do anything that could make things worse. Going to super secret meetings while being accused of spying would definitely be a red flag at his trial.
As for Schumer and the rest of the Democratic bigwigs in the Senate, they probably want Menendez to call it quits, taking away the headache of dealing with him in the 2024 election, which is shaping up to be a real pain for Senate Democrats. Gold Bar Bob’s alleged lawbreaking is a story that no Democrat wants to be near next year, but Bob’s digging in his heels and refusing to give up the ghost.
