Watergate Prosecutor Calls Menendez Indictment the Democrats’ ‘Mirror Image’ of Trump Cases

When Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was indicted on federal bribery charges on Friday, some were quick to point out that the so-called “two-tier justice system” that charged former President Donald Trump is actually not a thing. Nick Akerman, a former prosecutor in the Watergate scandal, joined CNN Monday and went further, arguing that Menendez’s case is the Democrats’ “mirror image” to the Trump cases.

In a segment on the Menendez indictment on CNN News Central with anchors Jon Berman and Sara Sidner, Akerman and political strategist John Avlon discussed the parallels and differences between the Menendez and Trump cases. Berman reported that Menendez was planning to make his statement in both English and Spanish, citing Menendez’s statement that “it’s not lost on me that a Latino is being targeted by law enforcement here.” Avlon called the defense “a bit desperate”:

I think trying to say that he’s the victim of persecution because of his Latino heritage doesn’t hold any water at all. It sounds a bit desperate because the facts are so damning in this case. The pattern of the allegations are troubling over the course of his recent career. And there’s apparently no learning curve.

Then turning to Akerman, the former Watergate prosecutor said that Menendez framing himself as the victim in these criminal charges was similar to what Trump was saying about his own indictments:

I mean, the problem here is trying to make himself appear as a victim is really right out of the Donald Trump playbook. I mean, what we’re looking at is really the mirror image, the Democratic side of the Donald Trump indictment. And if anything, this indictment proves is, is that the Department of Justice is an equal opportunity prosecutor. They prosecute Republicans and they prosecute Democrats equally if the facts and the law justify it.

Watch the video above via CNN.