Solomon scorches Menendez for ‘his pathetic groveling to Trump’ after sentencing

By
John Heinis
-
14

Jersey City Ward E Councilman James Solomon has no sympathy for former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, mocking his “pathetic groveling to [President Donald] Trump” after he received an 11-year sentence from U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

“I was going to leave it be, but his pathetic groveling to Trump without an ounce of contrition just highlighted the entitled, endemic culture of corruption in New Jersey politics that must be brought to an end. Good riddance,” Solomon told HCV.

Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York had sought a 15-year sentence, while Menendez’s legal team sought eight years after his co-defendants, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, were sentenced to seven and eight years, respectively.

During a brief appearance outside of the federal courthouse in Manhattan, Menendez made a clear appeal to Trump just before exiting, declining to answer questions about if he was seeking a pardon.

“Trump was right. This process is political, and it’s corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system,” the former senior senator for New Jersey said.

Solomon, a candidate for mayor, joined the likes of Gov. Phil Murphy (D), Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, and Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla in calling on Menendez to resign in July after he was found guilty on all 16 counts.

His case of course received national attention, given the salacious nature of the charges, being convicted of accepting gold bars, cash, and a new car in exchange for intervening in matters for Daibes and Hana.

Menendez was also convicted of acting as a foreign agent to Egypt and trying to help facilitate a development deal between the Qatar government and Daibes.

Fulop, a Democratic candidate for governor, has been feuding with Menendez for the better part of the past two decades, beginning with losing a challenge to then-U.S. Rep. Bob Menendez in the June 8th, 2004 primary.

“20 years ago… I ran against Bob Menendez for Congress (articles below) bc nobody else was willing to do it – so I stepped up. It was brutal and I got 12% of the vote…. Today he will be sentenced to prison time for bribery,” he wrote on X today.

“Today is a big day – A chapter closes for NJ (+ for me). Change in NJ takes time – after the last year of change in NJ with the party line and now more engaged voters than ever – the next steps for NJ in change will be far quicker!”

Thus far, reactions from New Jersey electeds on Menendez’s sentencing have been few and far between, with Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ), who ran for the seat before Menendez dropped out of the race (and later resigned from office), weighing in.


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14 COMMENTS

  1. former Senator Menendez:
    Our town historian, in his 2023 History of West New York, New Jersey rhetorically asked if Mayor John Armelino’s conviction for accepting bribes diminished his lifetime of service to our Country (as an Army Captain Big Red One Division he lost much of one leg as part of the first wave WWII allied assault on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor; as our mayor, he facilitated the construction of all but one of our Senior Citizen buildings) He served his jail time without complaint, and even testified against others.

    There is no doubt that you have done much for your constituents as Mayor, member of the state legislature, and in your tenures in both houses of Congress. Very shortly after you were charged with the crimes that you are now convicted of, you publicly stated that you were being picked on because of your heritage. Are you now asking President Trump for a pardon?

    Mayor John Armellino took full responsibility for his actions. You, Mr. Menendez, are no John Armellino.

    • You certainly have a short, and warped memory of what you falsely think and speak. It was your false hero Trump, that tried to weaponize a bipartisan 9 figure massive aid to Ukraine BEFORE it was invaded by Russia, by CRIMINALLY trying to attach illegal pre-conditions to that aid(suggesting President Zelinsky should investigate TRUMP’s rival, Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.) Btw, besides the courageous whistle blower, Colonel Vindman, who exposed Trump for the fraudster he is, the other real hero in this was Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who courageously became the FIRST Senator of the same party of a president to vote to impeach a president.

      You also falsely imply by your willfully ignorant post that President Biden weaponized the Justice Department in its very lawful investigations and prosecution of Trump’s DEMONSTRATED high crimes. If Trump dares to try a quid pro quo on Biden, it will absolutely fail because the same CONSERVATIVE Supreme Court, which saw right through his CRY BABY FRIVOLOUS law suits about a non- existent “stolen election “ will equally see right through his desire for revenge as a false justification for claiming he is a victim of Biden, when in fact Biden almost become a victim of Trump’s multiple criminal acts.

      • Ukraine was not aware of any delay in support under President Trump. The perfect Trump-Zelensky phone call was released. There was no crime but now we all can see the actual crime was to protect the Biden Crime Family and the Bag Man Hunter who was setting himself up for a no-show job with the Russian-connected energy firm, Burisma.

        Vindman is a liar and had no insight into the phone call that was transparently released by the WH other than his buddy who claimed there was something inappropriate. It was all garbage for Sham Impeachment I and a protection racket for the Biden Crime Family. They all required never seen preemptive pardons in US history from the head of the crime family, Joe Bribem.

        Joe Bribem allowed the totalitarian Left to manufacture crimes and prosecution against President Trump after he announced he would again run for the presidency. All of the Lawfare failed and has been flushed down the crapper. The political operation failed and a review will take place to correct the wrongs of the weaponized DOJ. No court has ever weighed a case with the election fraud in 2020. There will likely be more evidence forthcoming not lesson that front too. Accountability is coming.

        President Trump is not a hero yet. He is however our popular and lawfully elected President far more popular than the Leftist totalitarian Democrat Party you back. Even a left wing polling firm:
        https://nypost.com/2025/01/29/us-news/democrats-unfavorability-rating-reaches-new-high-poll/

        See also more on Sham Impeachment I:
        https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/04/17/impeachment_whistleblower_was_in_the_loop_of_biden-ukraine_affairs_that_trump_wanted_probed_1024937.html

        • Author known as ‘You and Buggywhip are LOZ-ZERS” has the intellectual curiosity of a self-absorbed juvenile delinquent suffering from arrested development. LTC Vindmann was the whistleblower, not that Italian fellow your fake news shill cited.It is low-information voters like you that are jeopardizing our Republic. Get a brain, get a life, and stay out of the way of GOOD Republicans and GOOD Democrats. If RFK Jr. is not confirmed ( and he should not be) it will be because of good Republicans and Good Democrats

  3. Any sentence upon Menendez should be front page news by itself on website devoted to HC, right? It is not. Why?

    Instead, John picks one of many local politicians. Incompetence or manipulation?

    Elephant in the room:

    Remember Melgen? BTW he was “secretly” pardoned by DJT along with Eliyahu Weinstein (back indicted again for same stuff) and along commuted Sholom Rubashkin. According to feds, Melgen supplied children to be raped by Menendez in DR. Bob was never prosecuted for that part as it was clearly more difficult to prove in court of law.

    Here is important part of Bob’s saga, John. That case was played in district court in NJ. Abandoned and never retried. The recent, brand new case, was moved by Garland to southern district NY. Why? Clearly, Bob made some enemies in DC and fellow Dem was determined to nail him. Garland took no chances and tried in NY and won. Trump fired Garland’s DOJ crooks who prosecuted him on baloney charges. Hopefully, Kash Patel (himself targeted by Garland) will be nominated to head FBI and will publish docs on Garlands lawfare. There is way more to Menedez story that meets the eye.

    • I’m aware of the, I guess I’ll call alternate theory, around the Menendez case, but I don’t buy it. The jury was unanimous and they didn’t deliberate for particularly long, so I’m choosing to believe the prosecutors put forward a strong case that we all had the opportunity to dig into as deep as we wanted – all the docs are online. To your other point, I’m self-aware enough to know that very few people are coming here to read “Menendez sentenced.” They’re reading CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, etc., not a local. Therefore, makes more sense to take the local angle(s), rather than just repeat what every legacy outlet has already said.

    • Your sentence “Trump fired Garland’s DOJ crooks who prosecuted him on baloney charges” tells all intelligent folks, regardless of their political ideology that it is you who is pathetically trying to pass along your own baloney, that you miserably have attempted to masquerade here as fact. While it is a fact that you falsely worship Trump; it is equally true that he worships no one but himself. He probably was justified ( in his own mind) of not placing his hands on the two Bibles his third wife held out for him at his 2nd Innauguration, because of the lightning bolts that would have surely visited him in a visceral way for Lying (again.) The fact that John Heinis responded to you speaks to his intrepid nature to set the record straight, but realistically, I don’t hold out much reason to think that you will see things more clearly, because it does not seem to be in your willingness to do so.

  6. You hudson county loooozers have the collective IQ of 3…………on a good day. menendez is trash, always has been, always will be. The porcine, venal puppet turned on Musto many years ago, and now it’s his turn to go to prison where he belongs. And you hudson county loooozers still voted for his piece of garbage son. The whole county stinks from top to bottom. I left in the early 80’s and never looked back on that insane asylum.

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