MSNBC Republican National Convention Special
7/16/24
9:05 PM
RACHEL MADDOW: In terms of the other news that is going on around this convention that is sort of casting a shadow over these events, it is- it would be a remarkable thing in any circumstance, it’s a particularly remarkable thing that in New Jersey today the senior senator, Robert Menendez, is now facing, I mean- calls for his resignation, certainly. Calls for his expulsion from the Senate. In federal court, New Jersey senator Menendez was convicted of 16 felonies with which he was charged. Guilty on all charges including bribery, extortion, acting as a foreign agent. This is the case in which Senator Menendez was charged with accepting cash and gold bars in exchange for acting to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Now that Menendez has not just been indicted on those charges, but convicted, it is basically inconceivable that the Democratic Party will allow Robert Menendez to stay in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer today insisted that Menendez must resign, as did Menendez’ fellow New Jersey senator Corey Booker. We’re going to be speaking live with Senator Booker later on this hour. New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Phil Murphy also demanding that Senator Menendez resign because he has been criminally convicted. Governor Murphy even going further, saying that if Senator Menendez does not resign, he is requesting that the United States Senate vote to expel him- force him out if he won't leave on his own terms. This- this is- this is awkward, right? For what’s going on here in Milwaukee. To be clear, it is the Democratic Senate leader, the Democratic governor of his home state demanding that a Democratic senator must resign or be forced out because of his criminal conviction. And the Democrats surely aren't happy that a senator from their party has turned out to be a felon 16 times over. But at least the Democratic Party knows what to do when something like that happens, right? If you are convicted of felonies in the Democratic Party you are expected to leave office, and indeed your party will demand that you must leave of your own accord and if you don't leave of your own accord they will remove you otherwise. That’s how it works in Democratic Party politics. Had Robert Menendez been a Republican, I'm sorry JD Vance, Bob Menendez would probably be the vice presidential nominee of the Republican party by now. All of the both sides mirror image analysis we get of how there are things wrong with both parties and there’s corruption, the handling of Robert Menendez and the handling of Donald Trump, both of whom are convicted on multiple felony counts, tells you what you need to know in terms of the way these two parties feel about law and order issues.