As part of the ongoing bribery scandal swirling around New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez, we see that his wife, Nadine Menendez, was involved in a traffic death back in 2018. This was before she was married to Menendez and was still Nadine Arslanian, and she was not charged with any liability or negligence in the accident itself, but that's not the real story. 

First, the accident:

The crash, which was first reported Wednesday by the Record newspaper of Bergen and The New York Times, happened on the night of Dec. 12, 2018, in the New Jersey town of Bogota.

Arslanian, who was not charged, told police she was driving on Main Street when a man later identified as Richard Koop "jumped on my windshield," according to dashboard video obtained by NBC New York.

Koop was found lying in the road with “severe head trauma, bleeding from the back of his head, bleeding from the face, and possible fractured legs and arms” when police arrived shortly after 7:30 p.m., according to police records obtained by NBC News that also said the responding officer described Koop as unconscious and not breathing.

Arslanian was "bleeding from her hands" and had hit a parked car after she struck Koop, police records showed.

As noted, she was not charged for the accident, although her insurance company did pay a settlement to Mr. Koop's family.

(Attorney for Koop's family Sheri) Breen said she secured a settlement for the family "for the maximum amount." DeBouter, Koop’s ex-wife, said er(sic) family received $60,000 after attorney's fees were taken out.

But what about the Mercedes? Turns out that's the real story here. Let's look at the timeline; it turns out Ms. Arslanian was responsible for introducing Sen. Menendez to one of the New Jersey businessmen who is accused of bribing him:

The FBI said Arslanian started dating Menendez in February 2018 and soon connected him with a New Jersey businessman who had ties to the Egyptian government, Wael Hana. Hana allegedly introduced the couple to another defendant in the bribery scheme, a businessman named Jose Uribe.

While it's unclear how Ms. Arslanian came to own that first Mercedes, there is some more interesting information as to how she came to own its replacement; namely, she complained to Menendez's cash cow and was duly presented with a new Mercedes.

The indictment said Arslanian "was involved in a car accident in or about December 2018 that left her without a car. On multiple occasions up to and including in or about January 2019" she sent text messages to Hana "about her lack of a car."

That January — just weeks after the fatal collision — Arslanian, Menendez, Hana and Uribe agreed that Menendez would reach out to a prosecutor to try to help an associate of Uribe's "in exchange for a car," the indictment said.

Menendez did so, according to the indictment.

Afterward, Hana and Uribe got to work getting Arslanian a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible, the FBI said. Arslanian bought it in April 2019, with a down payment that included $15,000 in cash from Uribe, according to the indictment. Uribe subsequently took care of the monthly financing payments, prosecutors allege.

As the late Paul Harvey was fond of saying, "Now you know the rest of the story."

Senator Menendez is charged with taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and others, including cash payments, gold bars, and the aforementioned Mercedes—and Senator Menendez is currently trying to brazen his way out of the whole thing. But even Senate Democrats, who have historically been notoriously cohesive, have been calling for his resignation for weeks now, led in that effort by (of all people) the notably impaired hoodie-wearing junior senator from Pennsylvania.

Mr. Koop's death is clearly a tragedy, and our hearts go out to his family. But from the police accounts at the time, it does seem as though no criminal charges should be brought against the now-Mrs. Menendez; this appears to have been a moment of poor judgment (running across the street after dark well away from a marked crosswalk or traffic signal) followed by a driver who may or may not have been speeding, but who cannot be confirmed to have been.

The real story here is how Ms. Arslanian later blatantly complained about her lack of a car to the very person accused of handing six figures in bribes to the New Jersey Senator she later married. Even for a Jersey girl, that's some serious chutzpah. What's more, it worked; she got her Mercedes, and presumably the Egyptian interests got their quid pro quo.

This is very nearly Biden-level corruption.

The embattled Senator Menendez, it's looking likely, won't be able to hold his position much longer; the hits are just piling on up, and unlike the Biden family, the Menendezes do not command enough influence or indulgence from the legacy media to escape the well-deserved scrutiny. This is just one more hit—and there will likely be more.