What Counts As An Official Act? Why Corruption Is Hard To Convict
The NPR Politics Podcast
NPR
4.4 • 25.7K Ratings
🗓️ 25 September 2023
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Menendez is remaining defiant and says he will not resign. The senator has faced previous corruption charges — the case ended in a hung jury.
We discuss why these types of cases can be so challenging for prosecutors to win.
This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, justice correspondent Ryan Lucas, and political correspondent Susan Davis.
The podcast is was produced by Casey Morell and Elena Moore. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is my voice. It can tell you a lot about me and I'm not changing it for |
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| 0:18.9 | truths, wherever you get podcasts. My name is Reese. I am standing outside of the |
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| 0:28.7 | San Francisco where my husband Bruce is inside participating in the |
| 0:32.9 | naturalization oath ceremony to become an United States citizen. This podcast was |
| 0:38.0 | recorded at 1.06 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, September 25th of 2023. Things may |
| 0:45.6 | have changed by the time you hear this. Two things that will definitely have |
| 0:49.0 | changed is that my husband will be a United States citizen and he will be registered |
| 0:53.3 | about. Okay, here's the show. Those ceremonies, they're so moving. Congratulations. |
| 1:01.0 | It's a big deal. Congratulations. Well, hey, there. It's the NPR politics |
| 1:05.6 | podcast. I must mahala. I cover the White House. I'm Ryan Lucas. I cover |
| 1:08.9 | the Justice Department. And I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. And today on the |
| 1:12.5 | show, the wild story of a high profile senator from New Jersey who's been |
| 1:16.8 | indicted on corruption charges. Democratic Senator Bob Menendez has been accused |
| 1:21.8 | of bribery. The allegations include reports of gold bars, a luxury car, and wads |
| 1:27.6 | of cash found at his home. And the evidence might look damning on the surface, |
| 1:31.9 | but this morning Menendez was defiant insisting he will not resign from office. |
| 1:36.9 | To those who have rushed to judgment, you have done so based on a limited set of |
| 1:41.0 | facts framed by the prosecution to be as salacious as possible. Remember, |
| 1:47.8 | prosecutors get it wrong sometimes. Sadly, I know that. Now, before we talk about |
... |
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