NBC became the first network to move on from the scandal involving Democratic Senator Robert Menendez (N.J.) on Thursday as NBC Nightly News made zero mention of the story and that entered a plea of not guilty in a Newark, New Jersey federal courtroom.
As fellow networks ABC and CBS, ABC’s World News Tonight aired a one-minute-and-25-second segment on Menendez while the CBS Evening News devoted a 19-second news brief to his not guilty plea. However, between the two reports, Menendez was labeled a Democrat only twice.
World News Tonight anchor David Muir began by characterizing Menendez as “under fire” after being “accused of trading political influence for luxury vacations and private planes” in an indictment on Wednesday. Muir also touted the Senator as “digging in” and “saying he’s innocent.”
With one of the on-screen graphics reading “[f]ighting [b]ack,” correspondent David Wright picked up from there and declared that Menendez was “defiant” in addressing the press following his court appearance where he “plead[ed] not guilty to 14 counts of bribery, corruption and fraud stemming from his relationship with this man, Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor.”
The remainder of Wright’s report included a rehashing of the allegations prosecutors have made against Menendez and specific benefits he received from Melgen in exchange for various favors that included assistance for Melgen’s girlfriends in obtaining visas. Wright concluded by saying that, thus far, Menendez and supporters have maintained that “he was just helping a friend” he’s known for some time.
Following the program’s extensive coverage of the Iran agreement, CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley read the following brief on Menendez:
Today, Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey pleaded not guilty to charges that he accepted nearly a million dollars in gifts and campaign contributions from a friend in exchange for political favors. For now, Menendez is stepping aside as the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.
The transcript of the segment that aired on ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir on April 2 can be found below.
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir
April 2, 2015
6:42 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Ready to Fight]
DAVID MUIR: And now to New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez tonight. Under fire, leaving court today accused of trading political influence for luxury vacations and private planes. Tonight, Menendez, digging in, saying he's innocent. Here’s ABC's David Wright.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Fighting Back; Menendez Claims He’s Innocent]
DAVID WRIGHT: Senator Bob Menendez defiant today outside federal court in Newark.
DEMOCRATIC SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ: These allegations are false, and I am confident they will be proven false.
WRIGHT: The New Jersey Democrat is pleading not guilty to 14 counts of bribery, corruption and fraud stemming from his relationship with this man, Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor. Prosecutors say the doctor gave the Senator more than a dozen free flights on his private jets. Frequent use of the doctor's fully-staffed, luxury Caribbean villa in a gated community with three golf courses. Free romantic getaways, including one with a girlfriend to Paris, putting them up in this five-star hotel and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations. In exchange, Menendez allegedly used his influence to help the doctor's foreign girlfriends with their visa problems to protect a multi-million dollar contract for a company the doctor owns in the Dominican Republic and to push Medicare to drop its investigation into $9 million the doctor overcharged them. Menendez insists he was just helping a friend. David Wright, ABC News, Newark.
MUIR: David, thank you.
The brief that aired on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley on April 2 is transcribed below.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley
April 2, 20156:36 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Corruption Case]
SCOTT PELLEY: Today, Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey pleaded not guilty to charges that he accepted nearly a million dollars in gifts and campaign contributions from a friend in exchange for political favors. For now, Menendez is stepping aside as the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.
