WEBVTT - Bloomberg Law Brief: Menedez Corruption Trial Underway (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>Well, now it's time for our daily Bloomberg Lab of Brief,

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<v Speaker 1>exploring legal issues in the news, and today Bloomberg Law

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<v Speaker 1>host doom Grasso discussed the political corruption trial for New

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<v Speaker 1>Jersey Senator Bob Menendez. She speaks with Robert Mints, a

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<v Speaker 1>partner at mcarter and English, and Jeffrey Bellan, a professor

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<v Speaker 1>at William and Mary Law School. Jeff, let's start with

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<v Speaker 1>a brief outline of the case against Menendez. So the

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<v Speaker 1>government has has to show that there was money exchanged

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<v Speaker 1>for official acts here and so are things of value.

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<v Speaker 1>And they've got a whole catalog of things of value

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<v Speaker 1>that went from Dr Melligan to Senator Menendez. Highlights include

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<v Speaker 1>like an expensive Paris hotel room, some trips to the

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<v Speaker 1>Dominican Republic where the doctor had, I guess a nice villa. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>And then you know some of the eye catching ones

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<v Speaker 1>are are very large, like effectively campaign contributions up to

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<v Speaker 1>seven fifty thousand dollars. So that's all the money going

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<v Speaker 1>to Senator Menendez and things of value. And then the

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<v Speaker 1>government has a whole bunch of allegations of things that

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<v Speaker 1>the senator did for Dr Melligan in that same time period,

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<v Speaker 1>including intervening on his behalf in a medicare billing dispute,

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<v Speaker 1>intervening on Dr Meligan's behalf in like a business deal

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<v Speaker 1>having to do with the ports in the Dominican Republic,

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<v Speaker 1>and then arranging to influence the visa application process to

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<v Speaker 1>help Dr Meligan's girlfriends get some visas, and so the

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<v Speaker 1>challenges connecting those things. But they certainly have a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of allegations of gifts and official acts. Bob Menendez is

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<v Speaker 1>prominent attorney. Abby Lowell said that acting out of friendship

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<v Speaker 1>is not improper, it's not corrupt, and it's certainly not

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<v Speaker 1>a crime. Tell us what the defense strategy is, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>the defense is taking the position that the case is

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<v Speaker 1>really not about what happened, but about why it happened,

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<v Speaker 1>and so that means for the jury, this is all

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<v Speaker 1>a question of intent, and what the jurors are really

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<v Speaker 1>asked to do is get into the mind of both

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<v Speaker 1>Center Menendez and Dr Meligan and explore this relationship and

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<v Speaker 1>try to determine whether this was a true friendship at

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<v Speaker 1>these gifts were simply given out of their affection for

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<v Speaker 1>one another, or whether there was something more nefarious going on.

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<v Speaker 1>Here whether there really was a quid pro crow relationship

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<v Speaker 1>where this stream of benefits were bestowed upon Center Menendez,

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<v Speaker 1>with the expectation by Dr Meligan that at some point

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<v Speaker 1>in the future Center Menendez would intercede on his behalf

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<v Speaker 1>to benefit him financially. As Robert Man's a partner, Ed

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<v Speaker 1>McCarter in English, and Jeffrey Bellan, a professor at William

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<v Speaker 1>and Mary Law School, speaking with Bloomberg Lahost jun Crosso.

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<v Speaker 1>You can listen to Bloomberg Law weekdays at one pm

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<v Speaker 1>Wall Street Time here on Bloomberg Radio