No one is safe now
On Friday the DOJ criminally indicted Democratic Senator Bob Menendez for financial corruption. It wasn’t surprising in the sense that Menendez has been facing allegations of corruption for several years. In fact he’s already been put on trial in 2017, with only a hung jury keeping him from going to prison. But Friday’s indictment was a surprise in the sense that no one even seemed to know that he was newly under DOJ investigation.
That’s because, as I’ve pointed out numerous times over the years, the DOJ does not generally tell us who it’s investigating. It’s usually easier to pull off a successful criminal investigation – particularly when it’s focused on a powerful or high profile target – if the probe is all kept a secret. And in this instance the DOJ was able to keep the Menendez probe a secret all the way to indictment day. There were grand juries in this probe, subpoenas, witnesses testifying, and yet it never did become public knowledge until yesterday.
In other words, it’s really silly to presume that this or that person is not under DOJ investigation just because there hasn’t been any reporting on the existence of such an investigation. Clarence Thomas? He could easily be under DOJ investigation. Jared Kushner? Him too.
The news is even worse for those House and Senate Republicans who think they’re safe just because there hasn’t been any confirmation that they’re under DOJ investigation. Bob Menendez is up for reelection next year. The DOJ clearly doesn’t think that it’s too close to the 2024 election to indict people who are running in 2024. So if Jack Smith’s probe is targeting insurrectionist Republicans, they could still be indicted any day now for all we know.
The Menendez indictment itself isn’t that big of a story in the scheme of things. He’ll end up being forced out of office one way or the other, and he’ll end up being replaced by another Democrat. There’s not a lot of mystery on that front.
But it’s a huge story that the DOJ is criminally indicting holders of high office who are on the ballot in 2024. In that sense no one is safe.
I’ve also said many times that not every House and Senate Republican who did something villainous on January 6th is going to end up indicted. No jury would ever convict anyone simply for pumping a fist at a crowd, or voting against certification. For any office holder to be indicted, there would need to be proof that they were much more deeply involved in the plot than that.
But it’s crucial to remember that just because there hasn’t been any reporting or confirmation that any given political figure is under DOJ investigation, that is not an indicator that they’re not under DOJ investigation. Just ask Bob Menendez. If I’d asked you yesterday if he was going to be indicted today, you’d have said “Of course not, he’s not even under investigation!” But the real story is that we simply didn’t know he was under investigation. That applies to everyone else too. No one is necessarily off the hook for anything.
