White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Thursday highlighted a bribery scandal that has embroiled Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), arguing his absence from the Capitol while on federal trial could affect Senate votes for coming legislation.
Conway brought up the issue herself during an interview on "Fox and Friends."
"There's something else going on with the math, the calculation, that nobody talks about, which is, New Jersey's Senator Bob Menendez is a little busy these days," Conway said. "He's not expected to be back here [in Washington, D.C.] voting; he's in a federal courthouse because he's a criminal defendant in a federal trial."
Conway indicated that Menendez's absence could be crucial in tight Senate votes and highlighted that the case is not getting attention from top Democrats and the media.
"People should really go and look at the prosecutor's case as laid out this week," she said. "It is just stunning, and it went on allegedly for many years, corruption. Look at it. We don't have any Democrats talking about this."
Conway then argued why his absence is important.
"It's important because he represents the Democratic Party. It's important because if you have a 49-49 vote, you got the vice president as a tiebreaker. So he actually affects the calculation on a number of these important votes as well," she said.
Federal prosecutors asserted in a new document filed Wednesday that Menendez started taking bribes from a wealthy donor, alleged co-conspirator Dr. Salomon Melgen, shortly after he entered the Senate in 2006. His trial for bribery and corruption is set to begin next week.
According to Justice Department prosecutors, Menendez used his political office to help Melgen—who has been convicted but not yet sentenced for defrauding millions of dollars from Medicare in a separate case—after receiving campaign contributions from the ophthalmologist.
The prosecutors alleged in their filing that Melgen also provided Menendez with a range of bribes, including private jet travel, weeklong getaways in the Dominican Republic, hotel expenses, and lavish gifts.