NICE TRY

Rep. Aguilar Shreds Bob Menendez’s Racism Claim: ‘This Is Not That’

The indicted senator has argued that he is only being targeted because he is Latino.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), the highest-ranking Latino member of Congress, has joined more than half of Democratic senators in calling on Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to resign, and questioned the embattled lawmaker’s claim that he’s only being targeted for his race. At a news conference on Wednesday, Aguilar said, “Latinos face barriers and discrimination across the board in so many categories, including in our justice system – this is not that.” Menendez, a Cuban American, said in a statement last Friday just after his bribery indictment was announced, “Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. senator and serve with honor and distinction.” He later claimed that the envelopes of cash found in his home had been withdrawn from his savings account due to his family history of dealing with confiscation in Cuba. Menendez pleaded not guilty before a federal judge on Wednesday on charges that he and his wife took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.