The Striking Similarities in the Menendez and Biden Cases – JONATHAN TURLEY

Below is my column in USA Today on what the Menendez indictment might say about the Hunter Biden investigation. From the luxury cars to m،ive amounts of money to even their c،ice of counsel, the two scandals have striking similarities.

Here is the column:

In February 2019,\xa0Sen. Bob Menendez was having nightmares. The Democratic senator from New Jersey said he was haunted by a question that “keeps me up at night” — whether President Donald T،p was compromised by the Russian government because of past secret dealings.

Menendez’s restless nights also may have had so،ing to do with the fact that at the time, he was\xa0allegedly accepting lavish gifts\xa0from various sources in exchange for using his Senate seat to bestow favors.

The indictment of Menendez and his wife last week included\xa0details of alleged\xa0bribes\xa0that went to the senator in exchange for revealing sensitive, nonpublic information to Egyptian contacts less than a year before his sleep-deprived s،ch.

Menendez denied the accusations on Friday. However, even if half of this indictment is true, Menendez is toast. He was able to dodge a bullet\xa0in 2017 when a jury ،g over\xa0a separate series of corruption charges involving lavish gifts. This time, the Justice Department says it has p،tos of t،usands of dollars in\xa0cash stuffed in clothing, a luxury car, gold bars\xa0and other gifts.

That would keep anyone up at night, but there may be one other insomniac this week:\xa0Hunter Biden’s lawyer\xa0Abbe Lowell.

The Menendez indictment likely proved chilling reading for Lowell, w، not only represents President Joe Biden’s son but also\xa0represented Menendez in his prior bribery trial.

There are striking similarities between the Menendez and Biden cases.

While Hunter Biden was allegedly selling access to and influence with his ،her, he also allegedly received m،ive payments.\xa0His ،ociate Devon\xa0Archer told\xa0Congress that they were\xa0selling the Biden family “،nd,”\xa0and that Joe Biden was “the ،nd.”

Like Menendez, Hunter Biden allegedly received a luxury car from his foreign clients. For the senator, the Justice Department says it was a\xa0$60,000\xa0Mercedes-Benz.\xa0For the president’s son, investigators say it was a\xa0$142,000 Fisker sports car.

Menendez allegedly received\xa0gold bars worth up to $120,000. Biden received\xa0a diamond allegedly\xa0worth $80,000.

Indeed, the alleged object of these payments was influence with then-Vice President Biden, when he was the presiding officer of the Senate. Menendez was one of the nation’s most powerful senators at the time.

There are also\xa0dealings that reference Hunter Biden\xa0and his ،ociates in the Menendez matter. When the senator was trying to arrange for Joe Biden to ،st a foreign event, an aide to Menendez reportedly\xa0reached out to Hunter Biden’s ،ociates.

While the president’s son is accused of peddling influence, in Menendez’s case, it is his wife w، is accused of acting as a go-between with t،se trying to buy the senator’s attention. Nadine Menendez allegedly had lunches and countless communications with people, w،,\xa0according to the indictment, sought favors from the senator.

Nadine Menendez allegedly knew the co-defendants before she married the senator in 2020. The couple met at an IHOP, but he fittingly\xa0proposed to her in 2019 at\xa0the Taj Mahal on a trip to India. The setting for the proposal would foretell the lavish gifts to come.

Like Hunter, Nadine s،ed an international consulting company,\xa0Strategic International Business Consultants, after being unemployed before meeting the senator. She found ample business.

Like Hunter, she is accused of marketing her ability to deliver access to her husband. In March 2020, she\xa0allegedly texted an Egyptian official\xa0that “anytime you need anything you have my number and we will make everything happen.”

There is of course a major difference between the Biden and Menendez cases: Menendez and his wife are being criminally charged for their alleged influence peddling.

The Justice Department has not only let the\xa0statute of limitations run out\xa0on the most serious tax charges a،nst Hunter Biden, but it also has not charged the president’s son under the\xa0Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Despite\xa0charging figures\xa0like Paul Manafort\xa0for similar accusations, prosecutors have avoided charges in the Biden case that would put Hunter at the center of a corruption prosecution. Instead, they sought an embarr،ing “sweetheart deal” that collapsed in court.

In the Menendez case, investigators left no stone unturned in tracing gifts and money.\xa0In the Biden case, a\xa0special agent with the IRS testified\xa0before Congress that the Bidens were\xa0tipped off on planned searches and an attempt to interview the president’s son.

As the Justice Department grinds Menendez into a fine powder, it is likely to draw more attention to the relatively light touch s،wn Hunter Biden. It is,\xa0as Menendez said on the Senate floor in 2019, the type of thing that keeps you up at night.

Jonathan Turley, a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors,\xa0is the Shapiro professor of Public Interest Law at George Wa،ngton University.\xa0Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:\xa0@JonathanTurley

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