The Justice Department is dropping its public corruption case against Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ).
“In a shocking turnaround, the U.S. Justice Department has dropped its case against Sen. Robert Menendez,” NJ.com reported.
“In a court hearing today, federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the corruption indictment against the New Jersey Democrat,” NJ.com added.
As Breitbart News reported earlier this month, “The federal district judge who presided over the public corruption case against Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) that ended in a mistrial in November, acquitted Menendez and his co-defendant, Dr. Salomon Melgen, on seven of 18 public corruption counts in a decision released on Wednesday.”
“Given the impact of the court’s Jan. 24 order on the charges and the evidence admissible in a retrial, the United States has determined that it will not retry the defendants on the remaining charges,” a Department of Justice spokesperson said in a statement issued Wednesday morning.
The Justice Department decision is a huge victory for Sen. Menendez, who is up for re-election in November.
First indicted in April 2015, Menendez has seen his net approval ratings plummet 20 points in the past year, from +4 in the first quarter of 2017 to -16 in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Melgen’s first trial and public corruption charges began in September, and ended in November with a mistrial.
Earlier in January “the Department of Justice announced its intent to re-try the case against both Menendez and Melgen, who was convicted on 67 felony counts of Medicare fraud in April.”