>> Major funding for reporters roundtable with David Cruz is provided by RJ Barnabas health, the Magazine of New Jersey business and industry -- legislative leaders in all 21 counties of the Garden State since 1954.

And by politicos New Jersey playbook, a topical newsletter on guard and state politics.

Online at Politico.com.

♪ David: Don't wait, there is more.

The Menendez saga goes international.

It is Reporters Roundtable, I am David Cruz.

Our reporter today includes Terrence McDonald, Kenneth Burns, and Sean Sullivan.

We will get to the panel in just a few minutes.

But we begin today with the Menendez scandal, failing to register as a foreign agent.

The latest indictment added to the case.

Joining us is the state Republican committee chairman and the last man to run against Bob Menendez.

Good to see you again, welcome.

Had these been the charges back in 2018, I bet you would have had a different result.

These latest charges, if true, are for many the most damning.

Guest: We want to believe in the innocence of everybody until proven guilty, but this combination of the new charges yesterday and earlier on Thursday, and the original charges with a gold bullion bars and the $100 bills stuck in the pockets are so damming and discouraging for people who care about good government.

David: I imagine you would love to see it there is no way Democrats in a primary send Menendez back out there.

Guest: I am not a registered Democrat, but I do not know what they will do.

It would be shocking to me if he could survive this in any way.

Regardless of the trial, thus the preponderance of the evidence and lack of accountability, I have a hard time seeing him survive that.

I hope it is still fighting on the top of the ticket.

David: Let me get a panel question.

Terrance: After reading this indictment, whether you want to say I told you so to New Jersey voters?

>> I am a forward-looking person, I lost to him in 2018, my life went on and you do not live in the past.

But I looked at some of the commercials we had aired that people gave us a hard time about, and I thought, everybody knew the reality then.

People just wanted to protect themselves and they had other national issues they wanted to prioritize.

So I think if we re-aired to commercials today, they would be just as relevant as they were six years ago.

Again, it is not personal with me, I care about good government and we need good people in office.

And we need a change now.

David: I feel like 2018, Bob you can would have already announced.

>> I believe we want good candidates, I grew up in Union City and the same era that Senator Menendez -- we have the same class years in school, grew up in the same town and served on the board of Ed.

My wife and I decided that he should not run in 2018 after a hung jury, with all of the issues of lack of support for the New Jersey's people and the corruption issues that he should not run unopposed.

As long as the voters have good choices, I am comfortable helping people be out there and get the right thing.

I am not planning on running, I am here to help other people run and move our state and the right direction, we have a big election this year.

We are very excited about providing answers and a new direction for the people of New Jersey.

>> I heard that the door did not close entirely, so that is noted.

>> We have to focus on 2023, the election is so important.

>> I have to ask you about the House Speaker fight, McCarthy ousted, Scully's apparently one a closed-door boat but he has dropped out.

Jim Jordan may not have the votes.

Ukraine, Middle East, the shut down, on the national level, is your brand taking a beating?

>> I am mixed views on that.

I do not like some of the dysfunctional stuff that is going on, on the other hand, Republicans have become the big tent.

You cannot be pro-life and be a Democrat.

We have pro-life, pro-choice people, people that support Ukraine, people that don't, we are the big tent.

If you look at the Democratic party, they have sold out to the far left progressive wing.

There is nothing left to argue about.

If you are Joe Manchin, even Gottheimer has a hard time saying he is a Democrat, giving away everything to the left, education issues, etc..

I don't like the dysfunction, I like to think things run in an orderly way.

We have important issues in the Middle East.

We are going to see fighting when you have a broad coalition like we have as a Republican party.

>> That as -- is an interesting spin on that.

I don't have time to dig deeper into it.

Since everyone is up, I know you guys have been feeling good, Democrats feeling on the run.

But we talked to a senator on Chat Box, let's take a listen and get your reaction.

>> I have not heard the Republican Senate candidates at all talk about taxes, talk about how they are going to make New Jersey more affordable for the average family.

They are running a full fledged culture war hoping to scare people and hoping that is going to move them to the polls.

I think they are going to be overwhelmingly rejected and I am going to make a prediction.

I think you will have surprises on election night on the Democratic side against Republican incumbents.

>> Here is a guy who is chairman of the Senate education committee, chairman of military affairs committee, when we had the crises and killed all of these veterans.

The chairman of the education -- we talk about culture war, he is the one who says, kindergartners have to know about gender identity, we cannot tell parents.

This administration, says every parent is abusive.

We presuppose that every parent is abusive.

A parent has to prove to us, the school system or the government, that they are good enough to be told everything about their child.

He is the one that is going to have the big surprise because he is a hypocrite in terms of saying that kind of stuff.

Education chair and producing the policies we have a New Jersey, it is embarrassing, the loss of parental involvement in our school system and we need to get it back.

>> You guys are fighting a bit of an internal battle.

I mean Republicans.

You've got a radio talkshow host saying you did not properly vet candidates, some other South Jersey Republicans denouncing a senator because of comments he made.

It feels to me like the moderate wing and the conservative wing of your party are not just sharing a big tent but there is a scrum inside.

>> The media always likes to bring up controversy, that is important and I understand.

>> What?

>> But I think -- we are aligned on 80% of the issues.

Yes there are differences of opinions, but the big issues of education, the industrialization , the Democrats want to industrialize the ocean, have an energy master plan that raises the cost of utilities.

Democratic party has abandoned the working person across the board, doesn't matter the income level.

They do not care about crime anymore.

You think about the problem we have in the suburbs, we have things stolen, no recourse or strategy for dealing with it.

The affordability, the senator has the nerve, he has voted for every single same thing to expand the problems we have economically in New Jersey.

We have issues -- but we are more aligned than we have been.

It is good that we fight on the issues.

In the end we will win.

>> Less than a month to go.

Good luck out there, we will see you soon.

>> Look forward to being back with you soon.

>> Panel, good to see you all.

Come on man, another indictment?

A foreign agent, Menendez, has he no sense of decency?

>> He says he does, he says he is loyal to the U.S. and that is it.

And presumably not to Egypt.

>> This charge -- it has got to have even more impact than the gold bars, particularly in the current state of this country.

>> It seems worse, the gold bars is sexier, so it is funnier.

The Egypt thing may be worse to explain to people.

>> Don't let us find out that you are acting in the interest of a foreign government.

What do you think?

>> Thank you for the transition.

[LAUGHTER] >> Does this charge -- how does it compare to the money, the Mercedes and the gold bars in the mind of voters or people in general?

>> When the Feds say they have a record of your Google search looking at the cost of gold bars, that says a lot.

I feel obligated to got check -- gut check this chairman.

If I am a Republican, I would love Menendez and all of this going on.

But let's be honest, the Republicans may be a big tent, but at the same time, one part of that tent has hijacked the party.

Matt Gaetz was a far right member of the caucus and took one person to send Washington into limbo.

The chairman can say what he wants, but last I checked, minority in the big tent has took in -- taken over the party.

One more thing, as far as the numbers in New Jersey, they are starting to go down because I did that investigation.

>> Can he come in hard early in the show?

Sean, acting for an agent or greedy, corrupt senator?

Neither one is going to work as a campaign poster.

Could he save all of us angst right now?

>> I think there are two things keeping him in the race.

One is that he is from Hudson County, and as you know, the politicians are built different.

He is digging in his heels and is going to continue to run anyway.

The other thing is if he did drop out, he would lose access to a legal defense fund to fight the charges.

There are other reasons why he might stay in the race even as the government's case against him continues to tighten.

>> The House Speaker fight, it is all fun and games until someone cannot fund the government.

Is this inside Washington drama or should a person on the street beekeeping and I on this?

>> I think it is a little bit of both.

It is a problem right now that we have a house that is being held hostage because nobody can generate enough votes to become speaker of the house.

Just 24 hours ago, the guy who the Republicans said -- had nominated, back out of the race.

I don't know how anybody succeeds here, and if they do not, I don't how the government continues to operate.

>> And then there is the specter of the return to the original speaker, the one that they ousted last week.

And even speaker Trump.

Put that one out there.

A lot of news this week.

I am going to jump around.

Can the judge in the school desegregation case -- says to many but not all of our public schools are segregated, the state has a responsibility to's -- to fix that.

After that, he says you are on your own.

Is that what happened to their?

>> I think you summed it up.

>> What now?

How do they start to fix this, because this case itself, as a matter of law, could dissolve because of -- the judge gave a ruling but no instructions.

>> The good news is we have in -- an assembly speaker.

The legislature and the Senate needs to -- the Senate needs to get together and come up with a solution that will satisfy the law and the judge.

As someone who has lived with -- segregation issues and bussing, the one reason why we were able to from under that was because we actually became a majority black county, Prince George's County.

Unless something is going to happen to level the playing field across all of the ethnicities and classes, the legislation will have to step in.

The other issue is the charter schools.

Traditional public schools want them out, but the charter schools says, we should have the same piece of the pie.

If I was a legislative leader, I would start drawing up a whiteboard.

>> If you thought solitary confinement was banned, think again.

You had a piece on this on how it is still very much in use.

>> It really comes down to a question of terminology.

This has before told me as a reporter.

Even back to the Christie administration.

It is a question of terminology, over the years, the Department of Corrections has used different terms for when they isolate a prisoner.

Being sent to the restrictive housing unit, the restorative housing unit.

But a report this week said that they had surveyed and reviewed the departments own logs, and that folks were being kept in isolation for up to 23 hours per day, which seems to fly in the face of the law that Murphy signed in 2019.

>> What happens now?

It is almost like the ruling on the segregation case.

Yes it exists but no guidance.

Did we get any guidance from the ombudsman?

>> We got recommendations but those will come with a price tag, the question remains as to whether it will be good.

The hurdle is the staffing issue at the Department, they are short staffed among correction officers and civilian staff.

You need bodies to keep and I on folks in solitary confinement.

It takes more resources to isolate a prisoner.

They just don't have it.

>> Coming out against the party line, Andy Kim is already there, Sue Altman and the Progressives are already there.

They are trying to get the county line, should anyone get any extra points now for being against the party line?

>> No.

Steve, it looks like he is going to run a gubernatorial campaign as if he is the outsider.

My thoughts on the county line is that it is bad and it provides an unfair advantage.

But this is an obsession with liberal activists and media bros .

If you talk to everyday voters, this is not something they are interested in.

It exposes us as being out of touch with what Nora people care about.

If you get rid of the line, party backed candidates would have outrageous advantages.

I do not know if it would make much of a difference.

>> In the end, if you got the millions of dollars, it almost doesn't matter much what the party line is.

>> Pretty much.

It is funny that the people who would benefit from the party line are the ones that are trashing it.

I am going to leave it with Terrence, he had the perfect answer, no, no cookies for you.

[LAUGHTER] >> I am going to give you 60 seconds to endear yourself or to latently pander to your South Jersey audience by saying something about the Philadelphia Phillies.

>> [groans] You would ask an Orioles fan.

I saw a part of it last night, and the Phillies owned the Atlanta Braves, it was a good game.

I hope they do well in the NLCS, I guess I am cheering for Philly now.

I prefer to work in a happy newsroom.

>> I want to get your thoughts on Steve Philip and how he is rolling out his campaign.

>> I think it is interesting to try to take full advantage to compare it to what happened last time around.

If you remember, we had a crowded field.

It looked like we were going to have a heated race.

And then Phil Murphy came in with his millions of dollars and charmed the county chairs and suddenly that became untenable.

Now he has declared early, you have to give him credit in that regard.

We are not having the candidates playing footsie over whether or not they are going to run for governor.

It feels like the oxygen for the governors race is not there yet but he has positioned himself to be an early front runner.

>> Are the Republicans going to have a big fight as they head into the governors race?

Because the state legislature is one thing, what once it becomes three or four candidates, it is going to expose the battles going on in the party right now.

>> Right, they will definitely have a big fight because a lot of them are upset with how -- ran his campaign against Murphy in 2021.

He wants to do it again.

I think there is potentially a sizable block of Republican primary voters and bigwigs in the party who do not want to let him have another crack at it.

>> Time for our only in Jersey moments.

Headlines and notes that our quintessentially Jersey.

You got one Sean?

>> This weekend we are rerunning an old story that I wrote about snake Hill in the Meadowlands.

We -- an updated version.

20 years ago, they ran into human remains, and ended up finding out there was a cemetery in the area.

What resulted was the largest disinterment of bodies in U.S. history, they moved 4000 people into Hackensack.

There are about 10,000 names who have been buried in that area, we have a math problem of who has been buried.

Just in time for spooky season, you can read about a real mystery over what happened to an old graveyard in the Meadowlands.

>> When I was younger, the threat for when you misbehaved was that they were going to send you to Secaucus to snake Hill.

[LAUGHTER] It's true.

Ken, you got one for us?

>> Let me put on the proper regalia.

Only in New Jersey, can you find the society of professional journalists student chapter of the year, William Paterson University, they had a busy year this last academic year.

They had several on-campus discussions, they have a podcast that you should check out.

They are the national student chapter of the year for 2023 and this is their fourth time in as many years, Nick is there faculty advisor.

This one I would like to point out, very important, is a diverse chapter.

And is the future of journalism, not just old white men, it is white, black, and a United Nations of journalists.

>> We were talking about this last week, as we heard even more bad news about journalists adding laid off.

It is heartening to see that young people are still looking to participate in the science and art of journalism.

That is a good one.

Terrence.

>> My only in Jersey moment is Senator Menendez being charged with being a foreign agent.

Because there is nothing more Jersey than a public official being a double dipper.

Usually the second job is not an alleged spy.

[LAUGHTER] >> That's a good point.

[LAUGHTER] >> He is really maintaining a great Jersey tradition.

>> And trailblazing.

>> There is another way to describe that.

[LAUGHTER] Mine comes from Hudson County where the gift that keeps on giving, my home county.

The Jersey City Mayor continues his campaign of not-so-subtle side eye at Bob Menendez after this breaking news competed for headlines with the housing policy announcement weeks after news of the initial indictment forced Philip to reschedule a previous policy announcement.

He posted his objection on x, tongue-in-cheek we assume. "

Senator a man -- Senator Menendez haunts me since I ran against him".

He promised that he was not going to forget you.

>> The true victim of this indictment, Steve Philip.

[LAUGHTER] >> That is round for this week, good to see you all, thank you for joining us.

Roundtable is off next week, we have a special one hour Chat Box , a celebration of Hispanic Heritage month, airing this Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday.

You can follow us on Twitter act -- @roundtablenj and you can scan the QR code on your screen.

For all of the crew here, thank you for watching, we will see you next week.

>> Major funding for reporters roundtable with David Cruz is provided by RJ Barnabas health let's be healthy together.

,Promotional support by New Jersey business magazine.

Reporting to executive and legislative leaders involved -- in all 21 counties in the Garden State since 1954.

And by Politico New Jersey playbook, a newsletter on Garden State politics, online at Politico.com.

♪