MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell delivered a scathing monologue about Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and his spouse Nadine Menendez on Wednesday, after it was revealed the latter killed a person whereas driving her automobile.
Federal prosecutors say that incident served because the impetus for one of many bribes the senator obtained.
In 2018, Nadine, who was then the girlfriend of the senator, hit and killed a pedestrian in Bogota, New Jersey. A police report from the time mentioned she was driving a Mercedes-Benz and killed 49-year-old Richard Koop whereas she was driving alone.
The deadly collision got here to mild on Wednesday in a report by the New York Occasions, which famous that after “transient questioning,” police concluded she was not at fault. A witness on the time said the officers on the scene “appeared to know” who she was and “handled her with placing deference.”
The senator, his spouse, and three associates had been indicted final month on federal corruption costs. A raid of the Menendezes house final 12 months turned up practically $500,000 in money and gold bars.
Prosecutors allege the couple was so keen to exchange the broken Mercedes, the senator tried to quash an unrelated felony prosecution of certainly one of his co-defendants in change for a $60,000 Mercedes convertible.
Throughout Wednesday’s Final Phrase, O’Donnell excoriated the couple.
“The breaking information of the day is that Robert Menendez’s spouse killed somebody,” he reported earlier than exhibiting a clip of a reporter asking the senator in regards to the incident.
“That was a tragic accident and clearly we consider the household,” Menendez mentioned.
The comment set O’Donnell off:
He’s mendacity. They don’t consider the household. They’ve by no means communicated with the useless man’s household in any approach. In December of 2018, Robert Menendez’s girlfriend, who was on her solution to turning into his second spouse, hit a pedestrian who was crossing the road at 7:30 p.m. and killed him. His title was Richard Koop. He was 49 years previous.
The New York Occasions studies at present, “His physique was thrown to the curb simply steps from his house and badly mangled… The police studies point out she was by no means examined for medicine or alcohol, and was allowed to depart the scene, not lengthy earlier than Mr. Koop was declared useless at a close-by hospital.” Richard Koop’s sister instructed the New York Occasions, “The household actually has had severe considerations over what we felt was a really sparse, one-sided investigation… We felt that the entire thing was very silently swept underneath the rug.”
The one drawback Mrs. Menendez appeared to face after she killed somebody was find out how to substitute that broken automobile. In keeping with federal prosecutors, Robert Menendez and his spouse took a bribe within the type of a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz C 300 convertible to exchange the broken automobile. The indictment of Robert Menendez and his spouse comprises a textual content message from her, saying, “All is GREAT! I’m so excited to get a automobile subsequent week!”
The indictment says she instructed the person who was bribing them that she would “always remember this.”
So, you’ve killed a person with a automobile, and you’re so excited to get a automobile subsequent week – not even barely traumatized about driving, not in any approach. And the factor you say you’ll always remember is the bribe that acquired you the automobile, not the person you killed.
The indictment comprises a textual content message that appeared creepy sufficient when all we knew it was describing was an alleged bribe. However now that we all know that it’s the reward Mrs. Menendez acquired after killing somebody, it reads as sickeningly perverse. She wrote to New Jersey’s senior senator, “Congratulations mon amour de la vie, we’re the proud homeowners of a 2019 Mercedes.”
She acquired that automobile solely as a result of she killed somebody together with her earlier automobile. And he or she calls herself a “proud proprietor” of the brand new automobile. The bribe automobile.
And whereas she’s at it, she congratulates her future husband – the senator – for taking what federal prosecutors name a bribe, for which they’re now each felony codefendants who’ve pleaded not responsible.
Watch above through MSNBC.