>> Major funding for "Reporters Roundtable" is provided by RWJ Barnabas health, let's be healthy together.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey business magazine, the magazine of the New Jersey business Association, reporting to executive and legislative leaders in all 21 counties of the Garden State since 1954.

And by politicos New Jersey playbook, online at Politico.com.

♪ >> who did Senator Menendez not trying to influence in the interest of his wife and friends?

I'm David Cruz.

Our panel champing at the bit to answer that question.

A health care writer for NJ Spotlight News, a reporter for Politico, and a politics reporter for NJ.com.

We will hear from them in just a moment but we begin today with a look at the widening scandal around Senator Bob Menendez.

Republicans called for an investigation into the senator's alleged reaching out to the former Attorney General to influence the outcome of a criminal case involving one of his current co-defendants.

Anthony Bucha is one of the signatories to the letter.

He joins us now.

Welcome back to Reporters Roundtable.

How are you doing?

>> it's great to be here.

Thanks.

David: the more you read the indictment, the more it sounds like a lifetime movie of the week.

Let's try to unpack this starting with the meeting between the senator and former Attorney General gray wall or one of his subordinates.

You are a lawyer.

That's totally inappropriate.

>> it is.

The allegations in this indictment are disturbing.

I don't practice a lot of criminal law but I can tell you that whenever you are an attorney or someone who wants to meet with the prosecutor, they don't come to your office to sit down for a private -- private meeting.

You go to the prosecutor's office and sit down with the prosecutor or one of the assistant prosecutors and there are investigators.

So that the discussions are known by all as to what took place in those meetings.

Is very disturbing when you have an Attorney General for this type of meeting.

Christiane: -- David: it doesn't specifically say that anything did anyone -- that anyone did anything wrong.

The defendant in that case did get a better plea deal than the original offer after the meetings.

That's a little suspect, isn't it?

>> again, all of these things combine to get the text we've seen, some of the allegations that are alleged.

How did we get to that point?

as a caucus and a member of the judiciary, we are asking the Senate and Judiciary chair to reconvene the judiciary, appoint an independent counsel, and give us subpoena powers so we can get to the bottom of this stuff.

People have to have a trust that the Attorney General's office is operating in the right fashion.

We don't know whether or not any of the protocols were breached or weren't properly followed.

I have to tell you, I think some of them probably we were.

Especially a private meeting with the United States Senator over cases that are currently pending in the office.

We don't know whether anybody was compromised in the office.

There are so many questions that remain unanswered.

I think that the public would feel better having an independent investigation that is a bipartisan investigation.

Judiciary is made up of Democrats and Republicans.

I would even submit that bringing on a former Democrat appointed Attorney General and a former Republican appointed Attorney General could serve as special counsel together to assist us in sorting through this stuff to make sure that there's nothing out there that's not being disclosed.

Secondly, to give the public some ease to know that things are being handled appropriately in the office.

If we need to change some protocols, this would give us an opportunity to really look at that to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.

David: what about this fatal crash involving Nadine Madame Dess -- Menendez?

do you think that this needs closer examination?

>> I think it does.

The Attorney General's office is starting that investigation.

Again, when you look at this stuff and you hear the dashcam video and you recognize that her phone was never turned over to the police.

We don't know whether or not this was a distracted driving type of incident also.

I think that protocol in New Jersey is that in a fatal accident, if there is probable cause to believe that the driver may have been impaired, then they have to do sobriety tests.

David: none of those are in evidence at the moment.

>> I would suggest that a fatal accident in and of itself would be probable cause for the police to say, let's double check for alcohol or drugs in this accident.

It would seem to me that that's the way this would be standard operating procedure for most police departments.

David: let's get a panel question.

>> on a different topic entirely, your caucus has raised a lot of questions about the Murphy administration's handling of the Veterans Affairs, veterans homes, nursing homes for veterans during the pandemic.

I'm curious if you have any thoughts on what should be done.

We've seen all these reports about the problems there which are ongoing.

Have you heard from members with ideas about how to fix these problems?

>> I understand that a package of bills is being considered and the administration is talking about splitting oversight into two different divisions.

So until I get an opportunity to see that stuff, it's hard to comment.

I can tell you that again, this report was just really disturbing in terms of what went on in these nursing homes.

The fact that some of it is still going on today.

I can tell you firsthand that when this pandemic hit, I received a call from the mayor in one of my towns in the middle of the night.

He was distraught.

He said, I have several group homes in town.

The folks that oversee these group homes were leaving the residence in the group homes.

He said, what can we do.

Many of the residents had Covid.

They didn't want to get Covid so they left.

I called the county and I called the state.

Essentially what we were told at that time was, look.

You will have to handle this yourself.

I just thought that was the wrong answer.

David: I have to let you go in a minute.

Elections coming up in the fall.

Your party has been controlling the narrative all summer long.

Do you think parental notification and curriculum concerns are going to be winning issues for you?

do you think abortion might not be a winning issue for you?

>> I certainly think those kitchen table issues are going to be important.

We saw that two years ago.

I think the parental rights situation and those things dealing with schools are critically important to parents.

So I do think that it's going to play a major role in the selection.

David: abortion not so much?

>> I don't think that's on the top of people's minds.

We aren't seeing that when we are knocking on doors.

I have to tell you, even in my caucus, I have folks that are pro-life, pro-life with exceptions, and I've got pro-choice people.

So I don't see this as a major issue where people need to be concerned about what's going to happen if there's a shift in power.

I think people are more concerned with their quality of life.

Recent polls show that people feel their quality of life is not improving, it's declining.

That's a result of crime, people stealing cars out of driveways.

It's a result of the attorney general interfering with parents ability to raise their children and have information delivered from their schools on what their kids are doing.

I think that when you look at the Murphy administration approached all of these issues and the Democrat leadership refusal to check some of these progressive policies, I think that will play a major part in this election and I think our party is ready to bring the state back to the center again where I think a majority of residents, that's where they are at.

David: we shall see.

Tony Bucha, good to see you.

Things were coming on with us.

David: let's start with Menendez.

What you make of this reporting on the Menendez meeting.

I'm not a lawyer but it seems inappropriate.

There's an internal investigation going on now.

The judge throughout another sweetheart deal from another Menendez codefendant.

Starting to see a trend here?

>> definitely a trend.

If nobody proves that this was a legal, it is certainly unethical.

The fact that the prosecutors, the fact that the U.S. attorney met with 1 -- Menendez, it was made very clear to him that Menendez wants this guy to get off.

The indictment takes pains to go, nothing inappropriate happened.

We've been talking about the Attorney General but let's talk about the U.S. attorney for a second.

The developer was facing 14 counts.

Years and years in prison.

After all this, Menendez pushing so hard on this guy, he works out a plea deal to one count of bank fraud and he's going to get probation.

Doesn't that wreak?

are we supposed to set here and be, no questions.

Come on.

David: it's the same deal with the other who was also facing a tougher plea deal and got a better plea deal afterwards.

Usually the reverse is the case.

>> The fact that the prosecutors met with Menendez.

Look, I understand that there's a lot of factors at play here and we are all human.

But prosecutors told everyone else, normal people to a pretty high standard.

To the standard of the law.

Ethics.

I think if you have a senator pressuring you very clearly, these are allegations.

If you do have the senator pressuring you and it's likely that they told prosecutors who he was, why didn't you report it or do something about it?

this is not the time that I would want.

Blow the whistle.

David: you also did some digging into Nadine Menendez's driving record.

What did you find out and how does that tie into the case?

>> I can tell you that she had two charges.

One was resolved with some kind of plea that I can't tell for sure.

Driving while using her cell phone.

Now that's -- people don't get it.

To be pulled over twice like that raises questions.

It raises questions of, we don't know about whether they fully pursued that phone.

I would think if you have two charges on your record for using a handheld cell phone, and you hit and kill a guy come even if he is jaywalking, that is certainly an avenue worth pursuing.

One thing that is lost about this is, this was in pagoda.

It doesn't look like this was on a major highway.

I know it's all separate issue.

How fast was she driving?

we need to talk about how we prioritize drivers over pedestrians in this culture.

It's not just this.

It's everywhere.

It gets ridiculous after a while.

In five minutes, the cops determine, the pedestrian is at fault.

David: this face -- case feels like Bridgegate.

Details are starting to drip out.

Did you get a sense that there might be a strategy on Mrs. Menendez?

>> someone suggested that to me early on.

I have no knowledge and I haven't been reporting on that part of the story.

I think that the traffic incident, the death, it's a fatal crash, really raises a lot of questions.

Clearly misses Menendez was speeding.

There was no doubt about that.

My understanding from people who live there is that there's nowhere you can be going 40 or 50 miles per hour like that and she was.

Richard Koop, he is important to remember.

He was getting out of a new brand going into his house.

Maybe he was crossing the street.

It wasn't like he was wandering around the street.

There are a lot of questions about this.

That's 100% right.

Many things we need to know about that particular incident.

David: Brent Menendez made some telling comments on Wednesday about how he would never jeopardize a New Jersey seat.

Saying, when I make that decision about running a free election, I will announce it.

He didn't say, I'm definitely running.

Anything we should read into that?

>> that's the big question.

He has refused to resign.

One thought is that he is biding his time in trying to continue to raise money for his legal defense fund while staying in office which is easier to do.

Maybe we will get a decision from him in April or March as we get closer to the primary filing deadline.

That's the big question politically.

If he's going to leave, when he's going to leave.

Those comments were little more measured than things he had said in recent weeks.

I heard someone say recently that, what's different about this case is that when he was charged a few years ago it was a bit more murky and difficult to understand, that the citizens may not fully grasp all the details.

This seems a lot more obvious.

The allegations seem a lot stronger.

This feels like a different situation this time.

>> Normal work of a congressional office.

Meeting with prosecutors to try to get it developed.

Sounds like normal work of a congressional office to me.

I think everything is fine.

David: it seems unlikely that he will resign.

Not so certain that he won't run .

In this case, is it Andy Kim's race to lose?

>> we have to see what happens with Tammy Murphy.

Certainly the early polling from groups that are sympathetic to Kim show him with a commanding lead.

He stepped out.

I think he knew where the bosses would try to go and figured, they will not go with me so it's time that I get out there a little bit.

David: what about the Republicans?

>> with Menendez not in the race, a chance of the Republicans winning this are so small.

If Menendez is the nominee, then it's a competitive race.

Without him, it goes status quo.

I don't think New Jersey voters will punish the entire party.

When you consider that most of the people calling for Menendez to leave office are Democrats.

I would like to point out, with the Attorney General stuff, I wish I could say that Republicans motivations here are clear.

They are clearly -- I don't regret them it offered calling for this investigation.

I think these are issues that need to be investigated.

I don't want to be like, but Trump.

We do have a Former President who called an election official in Georgia and tried to get him to overturn the election.

I know that's directly impacting New Jersey.

I haven't heard many Republicans say that that deserves prosecution.

A lot of the ones out there, they are joining the rest of the national party in implying that the presidents prosecution is political.

Why is this a legitimate means of inquiry?

think about the Former President.

I'm a reporter.

I can stand from the outside.

That's my job.

I know politics is complicated.

Motives aren't always peer.

I would certainly like to see a equal application of the law.

David: I have to get in some conversation about the bad news that's coming to local press.

We saw layoffs at news 12 New Jersey this week.

Also at WNYC.

That's coming on the heels of layoffs at entry.com.

What is your sense of what's next for local news?

>> yeah.

I think it was Matt who said in his newsletter that, when they say we are corporate restructuring, rethinking this, and then you are taking away reporters, the math doesn't work.

There's no way taking away people leads to better coverage.

You know, it's really troubling.

Alex at news 12 was one of those people who really went after the administration during COVID.

Sometimes it was wearisome for other reporters.

We weren't in the same frame of mind.

To be honest -- David: we weren't all in the same headspace.

>> right.

To be honest, that's what reporters are here to do.

We are there to ask questions that are being raised by people in the community come in the world.

The people that these officials represent.

We are supposed to be their voice.

The fewer of us there are, the harder that becomes.

We have some young reporters coming up through report for America on the spotlight team.

It's great.

But we need legions of them.

We need everybody.

We need more bodies.

That's all.

David: especially with elections.

Good for the corrupt and the scoundrels come about for the public, right?

>> especially troubling at the local level.

You don't have reporters at County commission meetings most of the time unless they know there's a big issue that will come.

You don't have the regular beat reporter who is going to the meeting, not expecting everything, just paying attention.

We are OK on the state level.

We are better than a lot of states in terms of the number of reporters we have, dwindling as it is.

I think we have more than enough reporters in Congress and the White House.

What really matters most to people, the things that directly affect their lives the most are what happens on the most local level.

David: small commissions of -- commissions.

All of that stuff.

>> some lamb belongs to our civic culture.

Not just the media companies and not just greed.

But if people were interested in their local government, which they should be, than there would be more demand for coverage and more money there.

Some of it, we have ourselves to blame unfortunately.

It's complicated.

David: go ahead.

>> I was going to say, I see the same thing.

I think people want to know, where did that come from and why is it on the corner?

what a stupid place to put a drugstore.

Had you gone to the planning board, you know.

People don't have time for that.

It's complicated.

David: it's time for our only in Jersey segment.

Headlines and notes that are quintessentially Jersey.

You have one?

>> give it to David Weinstein at New Jersey globe for the story of a guy named Joe Viso who was running for assembly in the 36th district, the outlier of a huge Republican wave district.

This guy has a pretty extensive criminal record.

The thing he unearthed is that in some dispute with a neighboring daycare center, he smeared feces on the door.

He said he was very upset at the time.

He doesn't excuse what he did but Obama had just been elected.

Thanks Obama.

Christiane: you have -- David: you have one?

>> yes.

When Taylor Swift came to New Jersey the other day.

A lot of people were referencing that she was coming to New York.

I'm to be said, that's actually in New Jersey.

Thank you MTV.

I would like to ask them to bring back music videos for an hour each day.

David: good luck with that one.

>> Never going to happen.

David: mine comes from the precarious world of local journalism.

Local journalism is under attack by economic forces for sure.

But it's also being pushed to the sidelines by elected officials who ignore, avoid, and otherwise circumvent the critical gaze of journalists doing their jobs.

I'm looking at you, Tom Kim Junior.

I don't blame them.

The fact is that you watching us right now have the responsibility to demand accountability from all politicians.

When what you know about your Congressman comes from that Congressman's PR people, whatever party, you are not getting news, you are getting propaganda.

Nowadays especially, it's up to you to know the difference and act accordingly.

That's roundtable for this week.

Good to see you all.

Thanks also to Senator Bucha for joining us.

You can follow the show on X and get more exclusive content including full episodes when you scan the QR code on your screen.

Thanks for watching.

We will see you next week.

>> Major funding for Reporters Roundtable is provided by -- RWJ Barnabas health, let's be healthy together.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey business magazine, a magazine of the New Jersey business and industry Association reporting to executive and legislative leaders in all 21 counties of the Garden State since 1954.

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

♪