 Views & Opinions |
Views & Opinions |
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A federal court indicted Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and his wife last week on criminal bribery charges. Menendez's problem isn't that he allegedly engaged in graft and influence-peddling — they're as D.C. as the monuments on the National Mall. It's that he broke the "Goldilocks rule," writes law professor Jonathan Turley. He didn't get the corruption "just right." |
Menendez has "long been accused of open and insatiable corruption," Turley says. In 2017, Menendez went to trial in a major bribery and fraud case. To the surprise of many, it ended in a hung jury. "Menendez dodged a bullet," writes Turley. But now he's been given a massive new bribery indictment, again involving lavish gifts allegedly made in exchange for political favors. "The question is whether this level of corruption is now enough for Democrats." Several prominent Democrats have called for him to resign; many others are so far remaining silent. Menendez's alleged corruption was like something out of an old gangster movie — "with cash stuffed in clothing and gold bars squirreled away for a rainy day." Whatever happens to Menendez, writes Turley, "the public is still being played for chumps. This entire city floats on a sea of corruption as family members and associates sell influence and access to high-ranking officials. Menendez is notorious only for the size of his appetite and the extent of his audacity." "The problem is not Menendez," concludes Turley. "It is the array of other politicians who enabled him while dismissing his reputation for corruption." Read the op-ed at TheHill.com. |
Welcome to The Hill's Views & Opinions newsletter, it's Tuesday, Sept. 26. I'm Daniel Allott, bringing together a collection of key opinion pieces published from a wide range of voices. |
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Op-eds exploring key issues affecting the U.S. and world: |
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By Glenn Altschuler, Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University |
Hunter Biden is certainly not a paragon of virtue. But the accusations by Republicans about him and Special Counsel David Weiss's handling of the investigation are unsullied by facts. |
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By Dennis Aftergut, former federal prosecutor |
The allegations in Friday's indictment are far more damning than in Mendendez's first trial. Federal prosecutors do not include the kind of specificity that's in this indictment unless they have the evidence to support it. |
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| By Tom Mockaitis, professor of history at DePaul University |
Barring a major Ukrainian battlefield victory, which seems unlikely, it would take a profound change in Russian attitudes to turn the tide in Ukraine's favor. All indicators suggest that will not happen. Russian public support for the war remains strong. |
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By Sari Bashi, program director at Human Rights Watch |
The U.S. should use its leverage to pressure Israeli authorities to respect the right of Palestinians like my children's grandmother to travel freely between Gaza and the West Bank, and to enter Israel not as tourists, but as refugees returning home. |
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Opinions related to pivotal issues and figures in the news: |
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You're all caught up. See you next time! |
Views expressed by contributors are theirs and not the opinion of The Hill. Interested in submitting an op-ed? Click here. |
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