It may be more than just coincidence that federal prosecutors brought corruption charges against Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on Wednesday, just as opposition to an emerging nuclear deal with Iran was beginning to swell. As the Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferecchio writes, Menendez is a “rare and vocal Democratic critic of the Obama administration’s foreign policy stance”:
The indictment comes after Menendez used his position on the [Senate Foreign Relations Committee] to slam a string of Obama administration moves, most recently the emerging nuclear deal administration officials are struggling to secure with Iran.
“The more I hear from the administration … the more it sounds like talking points coming out of Tehran,” Menendez said in a January hearing on the nuclear talks.
Menendez’s barbs against the Iran deal are hardly the first time the New Jersey senator has been critical of Obama’s foreign policy posture.
Menendez co-authored a bill with Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), known as the Corker-Menendez legislation, that would require Congress to approve of the Iran nuclear deal and any lifted sanctions. Due to the indictment, Menendez has relinquished his position on the committee, and lawmakers believe they should change the name of the bill.
Nevertheless, the Justice Department could have brought its charges against Menendez much earlier. The fact that they waited until now to do so sends a strong message to Obama’s critics and provides further evidence that the Obama Justice Department is a wholly political operation.