Well, good evening, im laura coates. A week that began with Merrick Garland being accused of weaponizing the Department Of Justice against republicans ends with one of the most powerful democrats in washington, d. C. Now indicted for corruption. The chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, new jersey senator bob menendez stands accused of conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. Essentially using his official position to force someone to give him something of value. Tonight, we are taking a deep dive into all of it from the investigation to the indictment and, of course, the political fallout and here are the Big Questions ive been asking all day, after seeing all the reports ive cut through all of it, here are the real questions, number one, did he do it . Right did he do it . Could a senator who left a hung jury in his last trial for conspiracy, bribery and Honest Services fraud, sound familiar, led to alleged personal favors have been so brazen a Second Time Around . Is this how the political corruption is happening . The senate rules force him to step down from his position as chairman. Should he also step down from the senate or maybe the better question is, will he actually do that . And, of course, you have a heard a lot about the twotiered Justice System and witchhunts and beyond. The very same republicans who have alleged those political witchhunts and a twotiered Justice System come sprinting to this mans defense, or will this be proof that lady justice might be independent and what will be the people in the court of Public Opinion let alone the court of law make of yet another allegation of an abuse of power by the very people who we were told to trust . I want to bring in john miller, cnns chief Law Enforcement and intelligence analyst, john, i have been champing at the bit to talk about this all day. This is extraordinary right now. There is an extraordinary level of detail in this indictment, it goes back years all the way to 2018, full stop, there is a Presumption Of Innocence, we know this very, very well, yet, this is damning as its written so what is standing out to you, most of all . Whats standing out to me is not just the shocking allegations or, laura, the fact that as you pointed out already, here is a member of congress and now a leader in the senate who has literally been in the shadow of various investigations for more than 20 years, but behind all of that is not just the basics of an allegation of businessmen giving alleged bribes to a significant public official, but the specter of a Foreign Government being behind that, just imagine the back end of this case and this is not something we see charged, which is that a u. S. Ally, a significant player overseas in the middle east, someone who has been a partner with us in the formulation of u. S. And mideast policy going back decades, that that country would be behind recruiting a United States senator, who is the head of the foreign who has been the head of the Foreign Relations committee essentially as an operative through cutouts, businessmen supplying him with cash and other goods. Its on that level more shocking than your average bribery case, its people allegedly possibly acting as agents of a Foreign Government and a Foreign Government trying to recruit a u. S. Official is very important. You know, i remember when i was a federal employee and just thinking about the cyclical times that you have to have, obviously theyre running your credit, right . Theyre talking to friends and talking to neighbors, they want to know all the things about whether or not you might be vulnerable to somebody looking at you knocking on your door or contacting you and saying, this is someone i can work with here. Theres some vulnerability. This is something very, very important for a Security Clearance and thats somebody who is a federal employee, i was doj. That was a part of it. And you actually were at the fbi during an investigation into the senator when he was actually in the house, so what has been your reaction now given your particularized experience with this person even years ago . Well, i remember that. That was back in 2006 and when you talk about, you know, how these various ships pass in the night, that was a federal investigation into alleged benefits he was receiving in the form of a house that he was renting from an organization he was also lobbying for at a time when he was in congress. Interestingly, laura, back then in 2006, the prosecutor who was bringing that case was Chris Christie, now a republican candidate for president , and that was a case that was investigated by the fbi, the bureau believed it was ready for prosecution, so did the u. S. Attorney in newark, but it was sent across the street and the judgment of the Attorney General and the Public Corruption Section was to pass on it. After that, of course, you saw the other case that ended with a partial acquittal and a hung jury and now this case, so hes really been under the spotlight for a long time, but Something Else you pointed out, hes entitled as the head of the Foreign Relations committee and the Ranking Member at various times to extraordinarily classified Sensitive Information. Right. Members of congress dont get a secret clearance. Their clearance when theyre on one of these committees is by virtue of the fact that theyve been elected. So what you were talking about, what you went through as an assistant United States attorney, what i went through as an Assistant Director of the fbi, that thorough background investigation, that polygraph examination, having your first grade teacher interviewed, none of that happened for a member of congress. Yeah. Its very true, and, you know, i wonder what they would say, probably laura coates, she talks a lot, but shes got good teeth. John miller, thank you so much. Nice to see you, of course. I want to turn to gene rossi and a former chair of the d. C. Democratic party. Gentlemen, here we are on a friday night, we began the week talking about Merrick Garland and his weaponized system of government and the doj attacking just republicans and what a fair shake they wanted to have for people. Weve been combing through this indictment and looking at it in all the different charges and, of course, as something in front of you, talking about it behind the scenes, what are your reactions to this . I know you say this is a problem. Its seedy, its sordid. Which part, the indictment or the allegations . The indictment and the allegations. The allegations, the indictment, im not impressed because from a criminal defense standpoint, i want to see where the there there is. For example, its all conspiracy under 371. Okay, this is like the governor Bob Mcconnell indictment, its shiny, new, its going to be in the press and what have you but the government still has to prove a case Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and one thing about bribery, you have to have an official act, i dare you to find in that indictment what Official Act Menendez did in exchange for gold bars, money, cars. By the way, has a wife too and the wife was friends with these two individuals and all they were doing were talking to their senator about helping them, whether it was unseemly or not and all he did was go to bat for them in each one of these instances. Can a legislator have an official act . He can release money for the egyptians, for the military, those funds and what have you but any senator could hold it up. If it made sense, egypt is an ally of our so i dont see any official acts. Thats a problem for the government. Interesting when we talk about official acts. Ive interviewed mr. Mcconnell formerly as the governor of virginia about instances like this and what this looks like and he believed to this very day, of course, that he got a raw deal, the Supreme Court said, look, i dont know how to discern between the official acts and what youve done in some respects although its more nuanced but, look, many have been hearing, gene, that this is how the sausage is made. This is what congressmen do. You cant get to whats right and wrong but the allegations are not i advocated on behalf of a constituent. Theyre much more serious than that. How do you see it . I love my partner here. We are 180 degrees apart. Youre going to disagree with me. Yes, even though youre a morehouse man. I worked in edva for 16, 17 years, i was there when they did the Bob Mcdonnell case and when they did the William Jefferson case in 2009, the congressmen, lowlevel congressmen who had 90,000 in his freezer in packages of cereals and burgers. The official acts that Congressman Jefferson did as a lowlevel member of the congress pale in comparison to the official acts of Senator Menendez allegedly. Let me give you one big whopper. I am absolutely offended if this allegation is true, that he used his official position in vetting a u. S. Attorney and he has that u. S. Attorney come to his house, the nominee or candidate, and that incident involved him talking about a pending federal case. That is disgusting in addition to being illegal and the timing is important. Bob mcdonald got he had tawdry thing, use of a car and a house but there was no nexus. Here the time line is devastating allegedly. He meets with somebody, he gets a gold bar. Before he meets with somebody, he gets cash. Theres a clear nexus between what he is going to do or what he has done and the official acts are very broad. The definition, it could be im trying to arrange a meeting. It could be, im taking a position on appropriation. Its very broad and my colleague respectfully disagree. Thats not true. An official act, that is exactly what the Supreme Court struck down in the mcdonald case. It said setting up a meeting as you would for any other constituent is not an official act. Advocating in mcconnells case in regard to an state fda approval is not an official act. He would do that for anyone. By the way, before we get caught up on the whole egyptian piece and what he did to help one of our ally, those documents he passed off may not have been public but they were not top secret. They surely would have charged him with that. What did he do . Youre upset because he 234rs. Im not upset. Maybe i am. Because you dont agree with me. Sitting down with a u. S. Attorney candidate, right, and asking them if you become u. S. Attorney and if i recommend you, its up to the president by the way, its not up to bob. That cant be an official act and i want you to look into the case and give it real scrutiny and stuff and if you dont, he didnt say to him, even in the indictment if you dont do it, im not going to recommend you. He wound up recommending he being menendez wound up recommending somebody else. Thats not an official act because ultimately its the president appointing him. By protocol the two senators make a recommendation, the president doesnt have to listen to that. I think the government has problem rooted in the lack of officials acts theyre going to make up. Can i have rebuttal . First, let me bring in Senator Menendez, his statement into this, first of all. He says, he is accusing the prosecutors of making false claims and, quote, misrepresenting the normal work of a Congressional Office and this is part of what weve been talking about today, the official act capacity, i have to say, though, its not as if the prosecutors in this jurisdiction have never heard of the governor of virginia and a case in the Supreme Court and one would have to assume although there is a presumption still and i only give credit when its due that given their knowledge of what it takes to prove an official act, givage the level of scrutiny on a case like this i hope they droted their is and crossed their ts. They said the investigation is ongoing. The two of you have got to go ahead and arm wrestle. Well fight it out. Maybe cooperate to to connect the dots. Theres no one linking these gold bars and money to these, quote, alleged official acts that dont exist. Well have to see if thats the case but theres two Defense Attorneys who may be interested in the job. Gene rossi and a. Scott bolden, thank you very much. There are growing concerns for the senator to resign, but i mean what if he decides to ride it out . Wouldnt be the first time you saw this in politics. Well talk about the political aspect of this next. For your most brilliant smile, crest has you covered. laughing nice smile, brad. Nice thanks . Crest 3d white. 100 more stain removal. Crest. The golden hour of cold and flu symptoms. Im feeling better. Cough . Congestion . All in one and done with new Mucinex Kickstart. Aaaaah ah hated that. Headache . Better. Ah fever . Body pain . Better now. Aaaaah new Mucinex Kickstart gives all in one and done relief with a morning jolt of instant cooling sensation. Its not cold and flu season. Its comeback season. Were traveling all across america talking to people about their hearts. Ooh, take this exit. Hows the heart . I feel like its good. You feel like its good . How do you know when its time to check in on your heart . How do you know . 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Calling the allegations deeply disturbing, the new Jersey Governor Phil Murphy saying, quote, the alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state. Therefore, i am calling for his immediate resignation, and governor murphy is not the only one calling on the senator to resign. Other new jersey Democratic Leaders emphasis on Democratic Leaders are calling on him to step down and they include the states General Assembly speaker and the Democratic StateCommittee Chairman but tonight Senator Menendez is pushing back on all of those calls to resign saying, this in part, it is not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a latino and push him out of his seat. I am not going anywhere. I want to bring in former chief white house ethics lawyer richard painter. So glad to see you this evening and fellow minnesotan, go, University Of Minnesota in particular. Richard, i have to ask you about these charges. You know hes facing three federal conspiracy charges. Talk to me about how youve viewed the seriousness of in these because the allegations are far more than your Garden Variety if there ever was one of kickbacks. Well, i agree strongly with congressman Dean Phillips of minnesota, who was the first democrat in congress to announce his demand that Senator Menendez resign. And thats what needs to happen here. This is not about partisan politics. This is about corruption in our government and our National Security. We have a senator who is indicteds six years ago. He had a trial. He was had a hung jury, so he got off, but then to make him chair of the senate Foreign Relations committee and, of course, Foreign Governments are going to be attracted to that situation. And he has the payments here in gold bars and cash, the government, of course, does have to prove an official act under the Supreme Court case law, Bribery Cases are very, very hard to prove but the United StatesAttorneys Office brought this ca