Brad Lawrence
Appearances
The New Yorker Radio Hour
How Bob Menendez Came By His Gold Bars
I don't want to be a Bob Menendez apologist, particularly in light of how it ended. But I also have, you know, a long history and a respect and affection for at least the first three quarters of his life, political life. I don't have the answer to it. I wish I did, and I feel like I'm an idiot that I don't have the answer for it.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
How Bob Menendez Came By His Gold Bars
But, you know, it is to me an inexplicable and tragic way for him to go.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
How Bob Menendez Came By His Gold Bars
Special thanks this week to The New Yorker's Alex Brady.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
How Bob Menendez Came By His Gold Bars
Maybe I drank the Kool-Aid, but I really thought it was sort of unfair. They were criminalizing behavior that maybe wasn't wonderful, but certainly didn't deserve a federal indictment.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
How Bob Menendez Came By His Gold Bars
I believe he legitimately felt he had done nothing wrong, certainly nothing illegal. I don't know that he moved on.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
How Bob Menendez Came By His Gold Bars
I don't know if it was that literally transactional about it, but I have a feeling that it certainly made him feel like, Playing by the rules certainly didn't get him anything. And so you'd be angry. I mean, I think most people would be angry about being indicted and put through the wringer for something that they felt certainly didn't merit that.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
How Bob Menendez Came By His Gold Bars
It's how you come out of that may be the more interesting question.