What is treason?
The U.S. Constitution defines “Treason against the United States” as “only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”
“Enemies” is a high bar, and ought to be—the penalty for treason is death, after all.
But there is a level below explicit treason, a betrayal of public trust and revelation of disreputable character in the service of a foreign government.
Examples of this go all the way back to the founding of our country. Edmund Randolph of Virginia was the first U.S. Attorney General, and George Washington’s second Secretary of State.
This was during the height of the French Revolution and the subsequent terror, when international relations were fraught for our newly independent country and our first administration needed to walk a fine line between the European empires.
But Randolph leaked the private conversations of Washington’s cabinet meetings to the French government, told them that the U.S. was a hostile power, and expressed contempt for his own country’s leadership.
When his communications were intercepted, and Washington confronted him in front of the entire cabinet, Edmund Randolph resigned on the spot and slinked away.
More than two hundred later, snakes like him continue to fill our highest offices.
Senator Bob Menendez has represented New Jersey since 2006, and for a decade has been the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In Washington DC he’s been one of the most powerful and influential members of the War Party. He’s used his position to ensure our government takes a hard line across the board against Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, and Russia, with no potential for detente or rapprochement.
Bob Menendez is also thoroughly corrupt.
Federal prosecutors have indicted Senator Menendez and brought forward hard evidence that he has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from New Jersey businessmen acting in tandem with the government of Egypt.
Menendez passed on information about U.S. embassy staffing in Cairo to the Egyptian government, and ghostwrote a letter for Egyptian lobbyists “to convince other U.S. senators to release a hold on $300 million in aid to Egypt.”
Egypt is ruled by a military dictator, the self-styled “Field Marshal” Abdul Fattah el-Sisi, and has one of the worst human rights records in the region. Egypt has also been the recipient of many billions of dollars in American largesse in the form of foreign aid and weapon sales.
Investigators found $480,000 in cash in Menendez’s New Hersey home and more than $100,000 in gold bars. After returning from a trip to Egypt in October 2021, Menendez’s Google search history contained the query, “how much is one kilo of gold worth.”
Apparently enough to buy a U.S. senator with all the bells and whistles.
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida quipped, “We are devaluing American money so rapidly that in America today, you can’t even bribe Democrat senators with cash alone. You need to bring gold bars to get the job done, just so the bribes hold value.”
Edmund Randolph breached public trust with no evidence of monetary gain. When confronted, he resigned without another word.
On the other hand, Bob Menendez has refused all demands that he resign, and he plans to continue to collect a paycheck drawn from U.S. taxpayers until the expiration of his term in January 2025 (assuming he loses reelection). He turned his back on his country for no better reason than dreams of money and power.
We have marked him for what he is.
