Phillip starts now. Tonight, a sitting United States senator is accused of using his official position to help a foreign power in exchange for sxrichz rewards. And while the allegations of cash, the gold bars, even the convertibles are getting all the attention, the other end of those alleged bribes is downright chilling. Geeng. Im abby phillip. The Justice Department indicting democratic senator bob menendez and his wife and his wife. That he sought and received Sensitive Information about u. S. Diplomats in egypt. Information that eventually made its way to people with ties to the government there. Now, in Addition Prosecutors say that he gave nonpublic information about u. S. Military aid. Hes also accused of ghostwriting a pitch to senators on behalf of a foreign government. Now, that would ease restrictions on arms and ammunition to egypt. Those restrictions were in place in part due to concerns about human rights and democracy. All of this as he is chairing the Senate Foreign relations xhirkts one of the most powerful positions in the entire government. These schemes allegedly ended with stacks of cash, more than a dozen gold bars, help on mortgage payments, a mercedesbenz convertible, and youre seeing right there pictures of the evidence. But the timeline is important and also stunning here. This alleged conduct started not long after menendez escaped conviction on previous Bribery Charges when a jury deadlocked, but also it allegedly began around the same time that he said this about then president donald trump. The American People deserve to know who they elected to be their president. They deserve to know if hes in fact putting americas interests first. They deserve to know if donald trump is wittingly or unwittingly an agent for the russian federation. Congress must carry out its constitutional duty to fully and thoroughly investigate where the facts lead. Tonight, the pressure is mounting. The number of democrats calling on him to resign is growing. Both from congress and his home state of new jersey. But menendez is maintaining his innocence. He says his ethnicity is to blame. Those who believe in justice believe in innocence until proven guilty. I intend to continue to fight for the people of new jersey with the same success ive had for the past five decades. This is the same record of success these very same leaders have lauded all along. 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. As for the man in charge of the United States senate, Chuck Schumer is praising menendezs work, says he is temporarily stepping down from the Foreign Relations committee, and he says menendez has a right to due process and a fair trial. That may be so, but many of his fellow democrats arent as forgiving, including my next guest, joining me now, new jersey democrat steven full op. Mayor of jersey city, also a candidate for new jersey governor in 2025. Mayor, thanks for joining us. You are now a part of this growing chorus of democrats calling on Senator Menendez to resign. What did you find to be the most damning allegation in the indictment against him . I mean, i think your intro was pretty spoton. If you read the indictment, i mean, it was 40 pages. It read like a movie script. It was really hard to kind of take in from dna on money and gold bars and of course cars and then giving information to the Egyptian Government. It was kind of really kind of a salacious 40 pages. And you know, it makes it really hard to say that everything in there is not true. Maybe bob menendez or Senator Menendez could defend some of it. It would be really tough to say every component of that is defensible, if any of it. Tonight Senator Menendez is pushing back on calls to resign. He says, as we read, its not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a latino and push him out of his seat. He also says hes not going anywhere. What do you make of that . That suggestion that hes making there that this is about his ethnicity, trying to push out the highestranking latino in the senate. I mean, i think any reasonable person knows its not about his ethnicity. But if you also know bob menendez, hes a tough guy. Hes not going to bow down to any amount of pressure. Thats unfortunate. The pressures going to build. But its not in his dna to resign. So absent the Senate Taking action, you know, i think hes going to dig in. And you know from a democrat standpoint its really hard to be critical of indictments that surround former President Trump or be critical of Clarence Thomas and then at the same time from a senate standpoint not take aggressive action against bob menendez with the same sort of allegations. All right. Mayor steven fulop, thank you so much for joining us tonight. Thank you. And lets continue this conversation here with former special Assistant To The President , President Biden, michael larosa. Also with us republican strategist shermichael singleton, cnn political analyst Laura Barron Lopez and former federal prosecutor joseph moreno. Joseph, i want to start with you here. As the mayor just said, it really does read like a movie script. Meeting a girlfriend, marrying her quickly after, and she just happens to have contacts who are close to the Egyptian Government that then are seeking information from a sitting United States senator. How strong do you think this indictment is . Gold bars, wads of cash, a mercedes convertible . Tawdry, absolutely. But tawdry does not always equal illegal. And the Supreme Court has made it pretty difficult to bring these Bribery Cases against elected officials. You need not a just quid pro quo, you need an official act, an exercise of governmental power. A vote on something, approval of a policy. When i go through basically those four kinds of conspiracies that Senator Menendez is accused of, i see holes in at least two of them. But what about providing that information . According to the allegations, he received he sought information from the United States government that was nonpublic and provided it to these contacts who then passed it along to the government. Unclassified but sensitive, absolutely. But hes not facing espionage charges. Maybe he should be, but theyre not in there. Again, it looks really bad, optics are horrible here. But as defense counsel, i can definitely poke some holes in this. Michael . I think one of the things i noticed today, it was a very splashy presentation. Sometimes i think im not a lawyer, but from a communications perspective, it seems as though when prosecutors make these kinds of large presentations before the media, sometimes it seems like their cases might be weaker than perhaps we think they are and are trying to argue their case in the Public Opinion instead and thats why theyre doing the visual presentations. I mean go ahead. No, i was going to say, i dont think that the seat will be competitive from a political perspective. Whether he should resign or not, you know, i think whats funny about my party is, we quickly fall apart, whereas the other party tends to fall in line pretty quickly. We have no problem throwing each other under the bus, eating our young. It seems like republicans stick with each other. Look, i hear what you guys are saying. But again, just a normal person reading this document, what it sounds like hes being accused of doing is taking money, almost 500,000 in cash, in exchange for providing information actually, even acting to facilitate the interests of a foreign government. Theres no doubt it looks terrible. But should he be held to a different standard when it comes to running for office than santos or donald trump . Well, actually, thats exactly the question. Thats a fair critique, but i would say as someone who had a topsecret clearance, ive gone through that process, this has been a oneyear investigation. This guys the chair of the Foreign Relations committee. The second most prestigious, one of the most powerful Senate Committees thats over Foreign Relations for this entire country. And hes essentially acting as a Foreign Agent against the interests of the United States. Now, look, i agree George Santos is a problem, and republicans should have expelled him from the house. But i expect democrats, including the president , to speak to this. Because if this were a republican, i would argue that the expectation would be for republicans to speak out against that individual. How, if you are senator schumer, would you be able to say that George Santos, for example, should leave the house and not say that the chairman of the Senate Foreign relations committee, whos under this kind of investigation, should not be in that post . Thats exactly why i think youre seeing so Many Democrats, in particular new jersey democrats the governor of new jersey, but also a number of menendezs colleagues in the house that are saying he has to go, he has to resign. Because even one of his former colleagues, tom malinowski, who used to serve in the state department, said, how can we as a party be calling for donald trump, say that donald trump is not fit for office, but then not call for the resignation of menendez . It doesnt look as though it will be sustainable position from schumer to not speak out more aggressively on this matter. Hes also now bringing in the fact that hes the highestranking latino in the senate. His state is 22 latino. He has a huge base of support. This is like a kennedy in massachusetts. Abby, i would say thats like Clarence Thomas all of a sudden saying, but im the black guy on the Supreme Court. Im not exactly sure how much room he has to maneuver by saying, im the Senior Latino in the United States senate. I think this puts democrats in a very precarious political predicament. Theyve gone after donald trump under the idea donald trump would somehow sell the secrets of the United States to any highest bidder. And here you have bob menendez, the chairman of the Foreign Relations xhicommittee, Essentiy Selling Secrets to a foreign entity, at least acting in the interests of a foreign entity. I think democrats have to address this. Help me understand this. Sounds like youre saying, generally speaking, unless he took a vote for the Egyptian Government, he can accept hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold bars, he can accept 500,000 in cash, in exchange for facilitating their interests informally . Almost like a lobbyist would, from the halls of the United States senate. Is that what youre saying . Dont get me wrong, im horrified by this im just asking. I think thats kind of what it sounds like youre saying. If youre looking at it purely legalistic, it has to be an official act. Throughout the indictment youll see that term peppered all throughout. It doesnt mean they can prove that beyond a reasonable doubt. Setting up meetings, making phone calls, right . Establishing goodwill in terms of a relationship. Those are not official acts. Sharing staff details about a u. S. Embassy in egypt . Thats not its wrong, but its not part of his job as being a senator. Making votes, making nominations. Maybe putting a hold on foreign aid. Now thats a good one hes using his role as a senator to access that information. If he were just a regular joe, he would not have access to that. Thats right, this is the loophole. This is the Bob Mcconnell from virginia or bob menendez several years ago. Thats why they couldnt get him the last time. If they can drive through the same holes that prevented the doj from getting him the first time around. But even if that is the case, shouldnt we have standards about ethics in this country . Whether its a republican or democrat, i think the American People have the expectation that our elected officials serve our interests, not their own interests, let alone the interests of a foreign country. And that appears to be what mend ez do you think, laura, this is going to be on the issue for trump the central issue for democrats with trump is Law And Order. Can they make that argument with this sitting right in front of them with bob menendez . I think given the speed of how many new jersey democrats including the governor have come out to say that he should resign, that as soon as lawmakers come back next week, theyll be back by tuesday, the democrats are going to be peppered with questions in the senate about the president will too. The president will as well. And i think that we are going to see more and more democrats start to say he should resign. These seats dont come up often in massachusetts, new jersey. The governor would probably love to run for that seat and spend his own money. Millions of dollars rung for sflat the way he did for governor. Several people whove been in congress for decades want that seat. I imagine they also want that seat Becausemen Dez has been indicted twice in the last decade and it seems but you know what, they spent 30 million against him after the last one and he still won by 12 points. Now hes running in a president ial year. This may help him. Who knows . Stranger things have happened, guys. Interesting conversation. Well continue to follow this story. Thank you, everyone. Coming up next for us tonight, we are now seven days away from a government shutdown. Next ill speak live with one of the republicans at war with House SpeakerKevin Mccarthy about the path forward. Congressman matt gaetz joins me live next. Plus why the mayor of dallas is changing his Party Affiliation from democrat to republican and the chilling words now that we are hearing from the former trump aide cassidy hutchinson, who testified about what happened to her in washington after january 6th. I could not go back to my apartment. I ended up moving down to atlanta for several months. Free gentle. Ide s it cleans better, and doesnt leave behind irritating residues. And its gentle on her skin. Tide free gentle is epa safer choice certified. Its got to be tide. Hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours not coughing . 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They were sent home for the week without a clear plan after conservative hardliners once again scuttled Kevin Mccarthys plans. One of those hardliners, congressman matt gaetz, joins me now. Thanks for being here, congressman. Absolutely, thanks for having me, abby. I should note you are still on the hill. So ill take that as a sign that perhaps things are moving forward. But i have to ask you, because this is starting to come to a head here. If Speaker Mccarthy puts a continuing resolution on the floor to keep the government open for 30 days, is that enough in your mind to force a vote to kick him out of his job . I gree with many of my colleagues who say if Speaker Mccarthy embraces a clean continuing resolution to continue the spending policies of nancy pelosi and joe biden that would most likely trigger a motion to vacate. Remember, i gave a speech last week detailing multiple areas where Kevin Mckarcarthy has breached his agreement with house conservatives. There was a big thrust of that that was the spending commitments but also a vote on term limits, a vote on a balanced budget amendment, release of the january 6th tapes. These are things Kevin Mccarthy promised. He hasnt done these things. We need to hold him to account. There are meetings happened. I just left a meeting with Congressman Biggs about the finer points of our department of Homeland Security