Gold Bar Bob
The Downfall of the Most Corrupt US Senator
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- $399.00
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- $399.00
Descripción editorial
"American politics at its sleaziest."—Publishers Weekly
Power corrupts, and in the case of New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, power—and boatloads of money—corrupted absolutely and led to the downfall of the Democratic Party.
Senator Bob Menendez stands alone as the most corrupt US Senator in history. After corruption charges were dropped in a 2017 mistrial, he may have considered himself invincible. But when the Feds raided his home in June 2022, they found a gifted Mercedes Benz, more than $600,000 in cash, and thirteen gold bars stuffed in envelopes, clothes, and closets. It was an outrageous haul for a man who styled himself as a fierce anti-corruption crusader, an ambitious Democrat who overthrew his mob-connected predecessor and rose through the ranks to the House of Representatives and the Senate to serve as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
From New York Post writer Isabel Vincent and government watchdog Thomas Jason Anderson comes the unbelievable story of a vast web of lies and a stunning conviction.
Gold Bar Bob chronicles Menendez’s politicking for profit as he enriched a network that included the New Jersey mafia and businessmen from the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East. In exchange for personal and campaign contributions, Bob aided others to sway criminal prosecutions, defraud millions from Medicare, secure questionable visas, acquire government contracts and financial investments, obtain millions in firearms, and weaken Homeland Security.
While Menendez was convicted of sixteen felony counts—including bribery, extortion, fraud, acting as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice, and several counts of conspiracy—there are still many secrets to unveil. After nearly a half-century political career, the lies will finally be unraveled about his family’s origins, how his second wife may be part of his crimes, and how much he attempted to get away with.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
American politics at its sleaziest is unraveled in this labyrinthine exposé. New York Post reporter Vincent (Overture of Hope) and Anderson, an investigator with the Last Government Watchdog organization, recap former U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's 2024 conviction on federal charges of accepting bribes, obstructing justice, and acting as an agent of foreign governments. The scandal involved a kaleidoscope of influence peddling by Menendez, including efforts to help the Egyptian government get a $300 million arms deal; in exchange, Menendez received a Mercedes, gold bars, and cash. Vincent and Anderson trace a lifetime of Menendez malfeasance, from patronage favors and shady real estate deals as mayor of Union City, N.J.—some of it involving the anti-Castro terrorist organization Omega 7—through his first corruption trial in 2015, which somehow managed to involve both Medicare fraud and port security in the Dominican Republic. Vincent and Anderson lay it all out in convincing if sometimes eye-glazing detail; there are a few colorful, pungent moments—"perhaps the senator was only half listening to Uribe's woes as he sat licking the fat stub of his cigar"—but what sticks is the banal routine of graft in both New Jersey politics and the federal government. It's an illuminating but dispiriting picture of American governance as a realm where seamy misconduct is taken for granted.