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Robert Menendez has held on to his Senate seat and retained the loyalty of many Democratic colleagues via previous scandals. However, given the present political surroundings and the gravity of the costs he now faces, many fellow Democrats have had sufficient—and voters would possibly activate him too.

First, listed here are three new tales from The Atlantic:

Undermining the Excessive Floor

Yesterday afternoon, a few hours after pleading not responsible to the cost that he had conspired to behave as an agent of a overseas authorities, Senator Robert Menendez introduced that “the federal government is engaged in primitive searching, by which the predator chases its prey till it’s exhausted after which kills it. This tactic gained’t work.”

The senior senator from New Jersey’s plea—and subsequent defiant assertion—got here just some weeks after he pleaded not responsible to a few separate counts of corruption. Menendez and his spouse, Nadine, had been accused of accepting bribes value a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} in alternate for serving to the federal government of Egypt and a number of other businessmen. The unique indictment was fairly dramatic, peppered with speak of greater than $500,000 of stashed-away money and pictures of gold bars present in his New Jersey house. Inside hours of Menendez’s indictment, a number of state leaders, together with the governor, referred to as on him to step down. However Menendez is preventing arduous towards the allegations, whilst colleagues activate him.

Menendez has positioned himself as a sufferer, and has invoked identification politics in attempting to defend himself. “It’s not misplaced on me how rapidly some are dashing to guage a Latino and push him out of his seat,” he mentioned shortly after his preliminary indictment was introduced. He has additionally accused “these behind this marketing campaign” of smearing him as a part of their political agenda: “For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly tried to silence my voice and dig my political grave,” he mentioned in an announcement final month. “Menendez has been utilizing explicitly Trump-y speaking factors in his protection,” my colleague David Graham, who has lined the Menendez prices, instructed me.

The Menendez imbroglio places the Democrats in a tough place. The occasion has loved some ethical excessive floor as Donald Trump faces varied legal indictments. However having a member of their very own occasion dealing with such galling corruption prices—and saying in his personal protection that, primarily, the deep state is out to get him—could not solely undermine that top floor, David mentioned. It might weaken Democrats’ case towards Trump’s personal statements about being the sufferer of deep-state machinations, and it might harm voters’ religion within the Democratic Social gathering.

This isn’t Menendez’s first time dealing with federal bribery prices: In 2015, he was accused of receiving items and some $750,000 in marketing campaign donations from a Florida eye physician. These prices resulted in a hung jury, and in the end the decide declared a mistrial. Menendez was capable of preserve his seat via the turmoil, and he denied any wrongdoing. His colleagues, by and enormous, stood by him. However this time, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy referred to as on Menendez to resign nearly instantly after his indictment, and different state Democratic leaders quickly adopted. Cory Booker, the junior senator from New Jersey who has referred to as Menendez a mentor and good friend, urged his colleague to step down a couple of days after the indictment. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, in the meantime, has reportedly confronted Menendez within the halls of Congress (or, extra exactly, on an escalator) to inform him to resign. Greater than half of Senate Democrats have referred to as on Menendez to resign, although Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer has been extra reserved. “The Senator has made it clear that he’s harmless and won’t resign from his place because the senior U.S. Senator for New Jersey,” Robert Julien, a spokesperson for Mendendez’s workplace, instructed me in an electronic mail.

A part of the rationale that a lot of Menendez’s colleagues are turning towards him this time, David defined, has to do with the relative severity of the costs. Bribery prices are by no means an amazing look, however the prices Menendez at present faces minimize to the core of his committee work within the Senate, accusing him of utilizing his place as the pinnacle of the Senate International Relations Committee to work on behalf of a overseas energy.

The calculations are seemingly political too: The final time Menendez confronted bribery prices, Republican Chris Christie was the governor of New Jersey. If Menendez had given up his seat, Christie might have appointed a Republican in his place. Now the state has a Democratic governor in Murphy, who would presumably appoint a Democrat to switch him, David defined. Even so, Democrats are anxious about introducing uncertainty after they have such a razor-thin majority over Republicans within the Senate. Democrats have turn out to be an increasing number of obsessed with beating their Republican opponents. That fixation on profitable comes at a value, David mentioned: “If you’re so centered on beating Republicans that you just’re prepared to look previous corruption allegations, you in the end undermine your self, even in the event you can win the subsequent election.”

However whether or not Menendez can really win his subsequent election remains to be a significant query. He’s a savvy backroom fighter, David defined, which has helped him keep in energy within the cutthroat world of New Jersey politics. “There’s a number of backstabbing in methods which might be completely authorized, however not essentially savory,” he mentioned. Menendez has held on via turbulence, however whether or not he could make it via this scandal intact will likely be, partially, as much as the courts. It should even be as much as voters.

Menendez’s trial is scheduled to start on Might 6, a few month earlier than the first race for his Senate seat. To this point, Menendez has made no public indication that he gained’t run for reelection. However his odds are usually not wanting promising. He’s being trounced in polls by Andrew Kim, a member of the Home of Representatives who introduced his marketing campaign for Menendez’s seat the day after the senator was indicted. Menendez is harmless till confirmed responsible, however his constituents would possibly simply be prepared to maneuver on.

Associated:


At the moment’s Information

  1. A 3rd former Trump-campaign lawyer, Jenna Ellis, pleaded responsible within the Georgia election-interference case.
  2. Israel escalated assaults on targets in Gaza, together with a refugee camp. The Hamas-run Gaza Well being Ministry mentioned that greater than 700 folks had been killed in a 24-hour interval.
  3. Home Majority Whip Tom Emmer has dropped out of the Speaker of the Home race, simply hours after changing into the nominee.

Night Learn

Young Britney Spears in a white long-sleeve top and pink pants
Fryderyk Gabowicz / picture-alliance / dpa / AP

Britney Lastly Tells Her Story. It’s Darkish.

By Spencer Kornhaber

One of the disturbing components of Britney Spears’s story has lengthy been the way in which folks speak about her. As quickly because the pop star was launched from the authorized guardianship of her father in November 2021, ending a 13-year ordeal that she has described as torture, some onlookers requested whether or not some of the profitable girls on Earth might deal with residing as an grownup. In barroom chitchat, meandering podcasts, and on-line remark sections, now you can discover folks claiming that liberating Britney—permitting her to, for instance, select how she spends her cash or what she eats for dinner—was a mistake. They cite alleged proof of erratic habits comparable to the latest video that the 41-year-old Spears posted of herself dancing sexily with prop knives.

Normally such skeptics communicate in a conspiratorial tone, indicating that they consider themselves as radical truth-tellers defying the pink-uniformed groupthink of the #FreeBritney motion. However Spears’s new memoir makes clear that this shaming and second-guessing, utilizing the language of care and concern, is deeply typical. She portrays herself—together with with the title The Girl in Me—as battling the media expectation that she stay trapped in girlhood, virginal and helpless.

Learn the complete article.


Extra From The Atlantic


Tradition Break

Chagos grandfather and granddaughter
A former inhabitant of the Chagos Archipelago—expelled when the U.S. constructed its navy base there within the early Seventies—and his granddaughter in Port Louis, Mauritius. (Tim Dirven / Panos Photos / Redux)

Learn. A brand new ebook from Philippe Sands, The Final Colony, tells the story of the Chagossians, an island individuals who had been expelled from their houses by the British and People.

Watch. The Pigeon Tunnel (streaming on Apple TV+) tries to seize the essence of John le Carré. It’s one in every of our critics’ 22 most fun movies to look at this season.

Play our each day crossword.


Katherine Hu contributed to this article.

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