Political commentator and alleged former Republican strategist Ana Navarro argued on Tuesday’s CNN News Central that the lesson of the Sen. Bob Menendez scandal is that Democrats are better than Republicans because Democrats are distancing themselves from the “champion for the Latino community.”
Host Boris Sanchez and Navarro were discussing Menendez’s claim that reason for all the cash and gold bars was his family’s history of dealing with communism in Cuba. Sanchez wondered, “Both of our families fled communist regimes where at any given moment, someone can come to your home and take what you've earned. Does that resonate with you, his explanation of keeping so much money and gold bars in his home?”
Navarro actually began by pointing out that Menendez was born in America and his family “family fled Cuba before the Revolution.” She did not see his explanation as outrageous, however, “I, as an 8-year-old, one day -- we lost everything we had. I can tell you today as an adult, sometimes I look up and I think Daniel Ortega is going to come down from the mountain and take everything I have.”
Moving on, Navarro desperately hoped that Menendez is innocent, “But, you know, I really -- I'm hoping against hope that's the case. And I'm hoping that he's able to provide that evidence. I'm hoping that he's able to leave this because, look, Boris, Bob Menendez is such a champion for the Latino community.”
Repeating herself, Navarro added, “He's such a champion for the Cuban-American unit and Nicaraguan-American community. There’s not one issue affecting our communities that the first person you go to is Bob Menendez for the last 30 years. Losing him is going to be a great-- leave us with a great void.”
Maybe Navarro needs a better champion. Still, she claimed that, “you haven't heard any Latino organization, any Latino leaders, any Cuban-Americans go out there and say that the DOJ is politicized, that this is a witch hunt, all of the things you hear Republicans say about Donald Trump and those indictments. What people here are saying, the guy deserves a fair shot. He deserves a presumption of innocence until proven guilty and let's see how those play out.”
No, but Menendez himself has. Sanchez then followed up by asking, “That was my next question, you read my mind. So, you see a double standard there in the way people are treating Bob Menendez, saying that he gets a fair shot at trial but in order for him not to be a distraction to the Senate, he should step aside whereas with Donald Trump, folks are saying the entire system is rigged?”
Democrats are asking Menendez to resign because they see him as a liability and a distraction from their 2024 campaigns, not from Senate business. Yet, Navarro claimed that such calls prove Democrats are morally superior to Republicans, “Well, but there's always double standards, right, when it comes to politics? For some reason, Democrats like to hold themselves up to a higher standard, when you look at Al Franken, when you look at what's happening with Bob Menendez. On the other side, you've got Donald Trump who’s 40 points ahead in the Republican primaries and is indicted on four different cases and with very serious counts about national security and classified material.”
Franken and Menendez both come from dark blue states where any Democrat not plagued by a scandal is going to win comfortably, so running them out of town will not affect the Senate balance of power. Meanwhile, not that long ago, there was a Democratic senator from Alabama.
Here is a transcript for the September 26 show:
CNN News Central
9/26/2023
2:20 PM ET
BORIS SANCHEZ: Both of our families fled communist regimes where at any given moment, someone can come to your home and take what you've earned. Does that resonate with you, his explanation of keeping so much money and gold bars in his home?
ANA NAVARRO: Well, a couple of things on that, first of all, I think Bob was born in the United States and I think his family fled Cuba before the Revolution. But what he's talking about is real, and is a real kind of mentality for many exiles. I, as an 8-year-old, one day -- we lost everything we had. I can tell you today as an adult, sometimes I look up and I think Daniel Ortega is going to come down from the mountain and take everything I have. Mind you, there are no mountains in Florida, so that's helpful.
I don’t have gold bars in my house, but I do have those feelings. When I heard Bob Menendez say that yesterday, I thought to myself, “well, if you've been withdrawing cash from your accounts for years, there's a record of that.” So there's evidence of that, right? There's a paper trial and so if that's the case that’d be great. But, you know, I really -- I'm hoping against hope that's the case. And I'm hoping that he's able to provide that evidence. I'm hoping that he's able to leave this because, look, Boris, Bob Menendez is such a champion for the Latino community.
He's such a champion for the Cuban-American unit and Nicaraguan-American community. There’s not one issue affecting our communities that the first person you go to is Bob Menendez for the last 30 years.
Losing him is going to be a great-- leave us with a great void. That being said, you haven't heard any Latino organization, any Latino leaders, any Cuban-Americans go out there and say that the DOJ is politicized, that this is a witch hunt, all of the things you hear Republicans say about Donald Trump and those indictments. What people here are saying, the guy deserves a fair shot. He deserves a presumption of innocence until proven guilty and let's see how those play out.
SANCHEZ: That was my next question, you read my mind. So, you see a double standard there in the way people are treating Bob Menendez, saying that he gets a fair shot at trial but in order for him not to be a distraction to the Senate, he should step aside whereas with Donald Trump, folks are saying the entire system is rigged?
NAVARRO: Well, but there's always double standards, right, when it comes to politics? For some reason, Democrats like to hold themselves up to a higher standard, when you look at Al Franken, when you look at what's happening with Bob Menendez. On the other side, you've got Donald Trump who’s 40 points ahead in the Republican primaries and is indicted on four different cases and with very serious counts about national security and classified material.
