As the trial of former President Donald Trump winds down, most of the networks appear to be willfully neglecting that other high-profile trial in New York: the second trial of New Jersey Senator Bob Menéndez (D-NJ) on corruption charges.
Only Univision seems to take an interest in the Menéndez trial. Here’s their brief summary of the proceedings from within the full report:
CLAUDIA UCEDA: The third week of the trial of Senator Bob Menéndez has begun. Today the prosecution called two witnesses: the assistant of the two businessmen charged with bribing Menéndez, and an FBI agent who read the senator’s text messages. It was Nadine Menéndez who made the first pass and asked the Democrat out on a lunch date, which came to fruition in a month. Then, she connected several people with the legislator in order to use his power and help Egypt, which could link the senator to a corruption scheme but could also aid his defense.
This excerpt could have very easily been done on ABC, CBS, or NBC as a 15-second filler brief, as is the custom on these networks. The networks, chiefly ABC, will often devote those to car crash stories. NBC often sticks 15 seconds of tangential stories on to the back of longer items, and a 15-second Menendez brief could’ve easily been tacked to the back of the Trump recap. But there is no interest in featuring anything that might take the spotlight off of the election-interfering Trump trial.
Reasonable individuals may conclude that there is a (D)ifference in how these important stories are covered by the Regime Media. On the one hand, with constant A-block coverage and wall-to-wall on cable. On the other: with a pillow, until they stop moving.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned trial as aired on Noticiero Univision on Tuesday, May 28th, 2024:
ILIA CALDERON: And here in New York today, the corruption trial against Senator Bob Menéndez, who is accused of using his influence to benefit certain businessmen, also resumed.
FELIX DE BEDOUT: He is accused, precisely, of accepting bribes in exchange for political favors. And today, Claudia Uceda tells us how two witnesses were key in the case.
CLAUDIA UCEDA: The third week of the trial of Senator Bob Menéndez has begun. Today the prosecution called two witnesses: the assistant of the two businessmen charged with bribing Menéndez, and an FBI agent who read the senator’s text messages. It was Nadine Menéndez who made the first pass and asked the Democrat out on a lunch date, which came to fruition in a month. Then, she connected several people with the legislator in order to use his power and help Egypt, which could link the senator to a corruption scheme but could also aid his defense.
RAUL PEÑALVER: The defense says that Menéndez did not know anything about all this, that the wife had been the promoter…
UCEDA: There was a four-hour delay because a member of the jury was injured last night. (The juror) returned with several stitches. Menéndez’s future is in the hands of a highly educated jury. Six men and six women, doctors, bankers, artists, attentive to the case related to gold bars and cash.
HAIM VASQUEZ: Perhaps it will be difficult for Menéndez to be able to demonstrate that based on his education, on the political position he had, on the social mores of how to act, it would be very difficult not to have knowledge. This, along with the defense that his wife was the one who took the actions, might not sit well with the six women…
UCEDA: There are so many text messages, calls, and documents that it is possible that the testimony of this FBI special agent will take two days. In New York, Claudia Uceda, Univision.