Iran Hawks See a Possible Conspiracy in Menendez Corruption Leak
U.S. Sen. Senator Robert Menendez addresses the media in advance of an event with U.S. President Barack Obama December 15, 2014 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.
Photographer: Mark Makela/Getty ImagesBEDFORD, N.H.–A Democratic senator is hit with corruption charges. A Republican governor stands ready to replace the senator if he resigns. On paper, it's easy to imagine the troubles of New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez setting up a partisan power struggle.
That's not how the Menendez story is playing out. On Friday afternoon, after CNN broke the news that the Department of Justice was preparing a case against Menendez, conservatives openly asked if this had anything to do with the debate over Iran. Menendez, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was wrangling Democrats for a sanctions bill that the White House had threatened to veto.