By Thomas Anderson
By Thomas Anderson
“Never say no to a hostage taker”, is a line from the movie The Negotiator where in the scene Samuel L. Jackson-the hostage taker- exhorts the lead cop negotiator to follow the manual on negotiating tactics. The character Jackson plays goes on to humiliate the lead negotiator by playing a word game where one mention of the word no leads to the death of a hostage. The lead negotiator fails the game and a shot rings out before Jackson cuts the line. The character Jackson played was placating for time, and setting the stage for who held all the cards and power during the negotiations over the hostages he was holding. I was reminded of this scene after watching the latest set of legal maneuverings by Senator Bob Menendez, AKA Gold Bar Bob.
As I reported yesterday, it appears the Senator is maneuvering to blame his wife for acting as a foreign agent and taking bribes. He’s made a highly unusual payout to a forensic psychiatrist who recently testified for the defense of a nanny who murdered two toddlers in her care in New York City, claiming the devil told her to do it. Politico and a dozen other publications followed up my reporting with the disclosure of a sealed document they asked the court for that confirmed my analysis that Senator Menendez would be blaming his wife for his troubles. This is all an extension of what the Senator has been doing from the beginning of his corruption and foreign agent problems.
From the beginning of his political career, Senator Bob Menendez has used his position and power the same way an experienced hostage taker or terrorist would by leveraging the lives of innocent people for political or financial gain. His wife is his latest victim but the United States Senate, the Democrat Party, and the people of New Jersey have all fallen prey to his hostage-taking ways. When he was first charged with bribery and acting as a foreign agent he not only refused to resign from office, he only temporarily stepped down from Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. With a slim majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats couldn’t say no to Bob, allowing him to stay on the Committee and still receive privileged classified briefings. He simply held his vote with the Democrat party hostage to get his way so that he could make a mockery of the Senate and his colleagues while wielding the power of his office to benefit himself in his criminal defense.
An old colleague of mine, who was a former prosecutor, would go on long-winded explanations for why one of the most powerful negotiating chips in any criminal prosecution of an elected official is the office they hold. Using his Senate seat for leverage over prosecutors is why Bob continues to run as an Independent almost guaranteeing the Republican win his Senate seat by splitting off votes from Dem Rep. Andy Kim, who is currently the lead horse for the seat. Saying no to ‘Bob the Hostage Taker’ leads to him helping the Republicans win a coveted Senate seat in a blue state.
The master negotiator turned hostage taker, Samuel L. Jackson, goes on in the scene I first spoke about to tell the cops why you never say no to a hostage taker. It’s because the word no only limits the possible ways a negotiation of hostages can end eventually leading to the only possible road: a collapse of negotiations and possibly death. A good example of this is currently unfolding in the Menendez trial for bribery and foreign agent indictments. Senator Menendez asked the court to separate his case from that of his co-defendant and wife Nadine Arslanian Menendez a few months ago. When the judge denied the Senator’s request, a set of fluke occurrences piled up Nadine’s attorneys asked to leave the case, while Nadine came down with a mysterious medical condition that prevented her from taking part unless the trial is pushed back a few months. Saying no to Senator Menendez only hurts the hostages, Nadine appears to be the last one he has.
Here’s why Nadine Arslanian Menendez can’t say no to Senator Menendez and why prosecutors must be sophisticated enough to bag the Senator while averting causing unnecessary damage to his last hostage. Wives of powerful federal-level elected officials enjoy the perks and benefits bestowed upon federal office holders. This means Nadine has top-level lawyers paid for by the Menendez campaign and legal defense fund, as well as some of the best health insurance for her current round of medical ailments that have forced a pause in her case. These benefits don’t end even when a Senator leaves office. The only way they end is if the Senator is convicted of bribery or acting as a foreign agent.
Section 401 of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 as well as Section 15(b) of the Stock Act make it possible for an elected official to lose retirement benefits if they’re convicted under one or more of several criminal offenses while in office or out of office:
May 5th is the start date for Senator Menendez while his wife Nadine isn’t tried until July. If Senator Menendez is convicted of bribery and acting as a foreign agent he will most likely lose all of his benefits and ability to raise campaign cash for legal defense purposes. This means Nadine Arslanian Menendez would have no lawyers funded by the Senator, and no health insurance to pay for her serious medical condition. She would essentially be destitute, sick, and unable to rely on her husband for any help leading to a trial that could end with her spending most of the rest of her life in prison. She can’t say no to Senator Menendez even though his ask is huge, for her to take the blame for his corruption.
Nadine Arslanian Menendez isn’t on the most stable ground socially, financially, emotionally, or physically with the latest round of health issues. The case has caused her to be cut off from the world while facing a dark future. New Jersey state investigators are also investigating the car accident she caused that killed a man a few years back.
Senator Menendez has hired experts to demolish her character it seems, potentially weaving a story of her being the dark mastermind behind all of the spy games he and his office were engaged in. Her fate is 100% tied to his, and he made it that way. She’s his hostage now, she can’t say no. Was this the reason why Senator Menendez sang to her during his marriage proposal? Was she his scapegoat all along? We head into his trial to find out.