“Gifts to cultivate friendship are not bribes,” Abbe Lowell said in his closing in defense of Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez — and enough jurors agreed to result in a hung jury and a mistrial.
The Biz Markie defense — he’s just a friend — worked. Lowell was worth every penny of the $4.5 million raised and spent by Menendez’s legal defense trust.
But the hung jury doesn’t change the facts:
Menendez’s co-defendant Salomon Melgen left the courtroom and went back to jail, where he is awaiting sentencing on 67 counts of Medicare fraud.
Menendez enjoyed ready access to Melgen’s private jets and luxury resorts financed by that Medicare fraud — and the New Jersey senator went all the way up the chain to the secretary of health and human services to keep the money flowing.
Read the rest in the New York Post.
Take action at ByeBob.com.