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**SEPTEMBER 27, 2023**
On the Prospect website
* Harold Meyerson on President Biden's historic support of striking
autoworkers
* Ryan Cooper on how to abolish government shutdowns
forever
* David Dayen on Sen. Robert Menendez's chances of political survival
Kuttner on TAP
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**** How to Oust Menendez: The Agnew Precedent
Nixon's vice president resigned in a plea bargain that spared him
prison time.
The premise in the coverage of the indictment of New Jersey Sen. Robert
Menendez for
**in flagrante** bribery and corruption is that he cannot be forced to
resign. Despite the increased calls
for his resignation, Menendez seems determined to hold onto his seat.
Menendez's prime goal, however, has to be avoiding a conviction that
would send him to prison. Despite the Supreme Court's 2016 ruling in
McDonnell v. United States
that bribery must be explicit and not just political favor-trading,
Menendez's solicitation of bribes and receipt of various forms of loot
were so flagrant that he cannot be confident of acquittal. Unless New
Jersey Democrats bungle things by splitting the field, he will probably
lose his seat in next year's Democratic primary in any case.
There is one way to get him to resign. It isn't pretty, but on balance
it would serve the public interest: a deal with prosecutors that trades
resignation for a plea bargain that avoids jail time. The precedent for
this is the deal that forced Spiro Agnew to give up the vice presidency
in October 1973, almost 50 years ago to the day.
In case you were not born in 1973, in the Agnew case federal prosecutors
investigating corruption in Baltimore found compelling evidence that
Agnew had taken bribes while Baltimore County executive, then as
governor of Maryland, and continuing into his term as Richard Nixon's
vice president. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Nixon's chief
of staff, Al Haig, were both informed that key witnesses were prepared
to testify under oath that they had given Agnew bribes.
Given that the Watergate investigation was well under way, with the
likelihood that Nixon would be forced from office, the possibility of a
corrupt Agnew under criminal prosecution succeeding Nixon seemed too
much for the country to bear. So the Justice Department offered a deal
whereby Agnew would plead
**nolo contendere** to one count of tax evasion in exchange for his
resignation.
He was sentenced to pay a $10,000 fine and to three years of
unsupervised probation, and left office on October 10. Less than two
weeks later, on October 20, Richardson himself resigned in the infamous
Saturday Night Massacre, rather than carry out Nixon's order to fire
special prosecutor Archibald Cox. That was the beginning of the end of
the Nixon presidency.
You can see why Menendez or his lawyers might angle for such a plea
bargain deal. But why would the Justice Department offer it?
Three reasons. First, to get a common thug out of the Senate; second, to
get a guilty plea rather than risk even the remote possibility of
acquittal in a trial or on appeal; and third, to spare the Democrats
further embarrassment.
Attorney General Merrick Garland insists he works only for the American
people and is above partisanship. Fair enough. The American people, as
well as the Democratic leadership, would appreciate getting Menendez
out.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
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Biden on the Picket Line, Trump in the Wings
The all-but-certain presidential nominees court the nation's
blue-collar voters. BY
**HAROLD MEYERSON**
There's an Easy Way to End Government Shutdowns Forever
No other rich democracy endures America's brand of budgetary chaos. We
didn't either until the Carter administration. BY RYAN COOPER
Menendez Loses the Senate
But he can still keep his seat, if Democrats in New Jersey split the
field. BY DAVID DAYEN
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