Sen. Bob Menendez convicted on all counts at sweeping corruption trial | The Excerpt

On Wednesday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez was convicted on all counts at his corruption trial. USA TODAY Investigative Reporter Nick Penzenstadler has the latest on the gun used in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump . Day 2 wraps at the Republican National Convention . The fatal shooting of a homeless man is raising questions about out-of-state police at the convention . USA TODAY Personal Finance Reporter Daniel de Visé discusses how home equity has soared in recent years. Climate change is making days longer .

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Wednesday, July 17th, 2024. This is The Excerpt.

Today, the aftermath of a guilty verdict for Senator Bob Menendez. Plus new details about the gun used in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. And home equity is soaring.

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Senator Bob Menendez was found guilty on all counts 16 charges after a month-long trial where he and three co-defendants faced indictments on federal corruption and bribery. It was the second time in six years that Menendez faced bribery charges, but this time there was no acquittal. His co-defendants, businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes were also found guilty on all counts. All three are scheduled to be sentenced in October.

The federal indictment against Menendez alleged that he, his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, and three New Jersey businessmen, Hana, Daibes and Jose Uribe were part of a bribery scheme. Menendez and his wife allegedly received, among other things, cash, gold bars and a luxury car in exchange for using his political influence. Uribe, a star witness for federal prosecutors agreed to cooperate and pleaded guilty to seven charges brought against him in the case. He awaits sentencing.

The indictment alleges that between 2018 and 2022, Menendez and his wife engaged in a corrupt relationship with Hana, Uribe and Daibes to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange from Menendez using his power and influence to protect, to enrich those businessmen and to benefit the government of Egypt. A superseding indictment alleged Menendez was multitasking for Daibes by also publicly praising Qatar to entice a Qatari sheik to invest in a property Daibes owns. In exchange, Daibes allegedly gave Menendez bribes in the form of cash and gold bars.

Menendez's team leaned heavily on the defense that his wife was the mastermind and he was unaware of exactly what she was up to. Attorneys for Hana and Daibes also highlighted gaps in evidence. Arslanian Menendez faces the same charges as her husband. She was initially supposed to be tried alongside her co-defendants, even after requesting the trials be severed. They were eventually separated due to her diagnosis of a serious medical condition, which was later announced to be breast cancer. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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We're learning more about the gun used in an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump this past weekend. I spoke with USA TODAY investigative reporter Nick Penzenstadler for more.

Nick, thanks for making the time.

Nick Penzenstadler:

Yeah, happy to be here.

Taylor Wilson:

So Nick, what do we know about this gun and where it came from?

Nick Penzenstadler:

Yeah, we don't know a ton, but immediately after the shooting on Saturday, law enforcement said that it was nothing special. Kind of a run-of-the-mill AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. We know that the ATF traced it within about 30 minutes of getting the trace request, tracing it back to where it was manufactured, where it was first sold, and it leaked that it was legally purchased by the shooter's father. So that's what we knew heading into this week.

Taylor Wilson:

And what can you tell us about the company involved here? It seems like a fairly complicated ownership kind of history and structure.

Nick Penzenstadler:

Right. So this week we've been working on learning more about the manufacturer of this firearm, and we learned that it is made by a company called DPMS. This was started back in 1985 by a Minnesota guy and it stands for Defense Procurement Manufacturing Services. So this is kind of an old guard AR parts manufacturer in Minnesota. And then in 2007, this brand sold to another company and was moved later to Alabama. Actually it was under the Remington brand for quite a while, but if you remember, Remington went through a bankruptcy and then they had a messy lawsuit in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting and the Bushmaster series. And eventually this company is sold again to a company called JJE Capital based in South Carolina, which is important.

Taylor Wilson:

And what's this kind of odd connection that Donald Trump has to this company?

Nick Penzenstadler:

Right. So this sale after the Remington bankruptcy happens in 2020. Fast-forward to 2023, and this Palmetto State Armory is part of this JJE Capital Group. They're really well known for making affordable AR-15s and affordable weapons, and they advocate for broader gun rights. And former President Trump actually last September, went and toured one of the facilities in gun shops in South Carolina owned by Palmetto State and met with their owners.

And it was one of these kind of made for TV moments where he sees one of the glocks that they sell with his name engraved into the grip and he says, "I'm going to buy that." But of course, at the time, he was being investigated and was under a felony indictment and there were questions whether that sale would've been illegal. And eventually his spokesperson came out and said he actually didn't buy that gun. He was just talking about how he wanted to buy the gun.

So the owner of the company that manufactured the rifle that shot Donald Trump had been toured by him months ago. So it's kind this weird connection.

Taylor Wilson:

Nick, is the company responding at all here in the wake of this shooting?

Nick Penzenstadler:

Yeah. So I did connect with a representative from JJE Capital and they told me that the current form of JJE and Palmetto and this DPMS has no affiliation to the old manufacturer and that like the rest of the nation, they're condemning this violence and praying for President Trump and the survivors. So it's kind of a complicated story where it was a former iteration of this brand that is now owned by a new company.

Taylor Wilson:

So Nick, what did weapons experts said about the choice of gun here and why the shooter wasn't able to carry out his apparent goal of assassinating the former president?

Nick Penzenstadler:

Yeah, almost immediately on Saturday when the word came out that this was kind of a cheap AR platform, former Navy Seals, Army Rangers, snipers came out and said this was a really odd choice for a long range shot. And it actually wasn't that long of a range by snipering standards. This is about 150 yards. And experts I talked to said, "If you're a trained marksman, this isn't that hard of a shot."

We don't know if this rifle had any optics or sights attached to it yet, but we do know that this AR that shoots 5.56 would not be the choice that a lot of these expert marksmen would pick. They say it's really susceptible to humidity and wind. And they also say if he aimed at former President Trump's head, that's not what a sniper would do. They would shoot for his body. It's a much easier target.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Nick Penzenstadler, great work on this as always. Thank you, sir.

Nick Penzenstadler:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Day two of the Republican National Convention is in the books and prominent GOP figures made their pitch to Americans across the country focusing on safety issues, including crime, human and drug trafficking and border security. Republicans criticized President Joe Biden's handling of the southern border, the opioid epidemic and more.

A group of conservative lawmakers addressed the GOP agenda if Republicans hold on to power in the house and pick up the Senate and White House this fall, and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump remained part of the conversation. Senator Marco Rubio took time out of his remarks to honor Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who was killed in Trump's rally in Pennsylvania this weekend during the attempt on Trump's life. And Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that not even an assassin's bullet could stop Trump.

Meanwhile, two of Trump's former rivals in the Republican presidential race supported him yesterday. Greeted by a chorus of boos, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley told convention goers that Trump has her strong endorsement and asked her to speak at the convention in the name of unity.

Nikki Haley:

Our foreign enemies win when they see Americans hate each other. They see that today, whether it's on college campuses or in a field in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Taylor Wilson:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a fiery speech told his fellow Republicans that America cannot afford four more years of what he called Joe Biden's weekend at Bernie's presidency. Laura Trump gave the final speech of the second day of the RNC. She called her father-in-law exactly what this country needs right now. You can follow along with usatoday.com for everything from day three of the convention.

A man identified as Samuel Sharpe Jr. was shot and killed yesterday by five police officers working as part of security efforts surrounding the Republican National Convention. Body camera video released by authorities showed he was brandishing a knife. The shooting happened just under a mile from the security perimeter of the convention, which is happening amid heightened security following a gunman's attempted assassination of Donald Trump this past weekend.

Authorities said the fatal shooting in Milwaukee yesterday is unrelated to the convention, but for some residents of the neighborhood, it's raised questions about the decision to bring out-of-state police officers into the city to help provide policing for the event. The officers involved in the shooting are from Columbus, Ohio. Samuel Sharp Jr., the man killed, lived in one of Milwaukee's tent encampments and was well known by people in the neighborhood around King Park that would often see him walking his dog and carrying a Bible.

Columbus police are bringing the five officers involved in the shooting back home, but the other 35 officers sent to the city are remaining in Milwaukee.

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Home equity has doubled in seven years, but the money is locked in. I spoke with USA TODAY personal finance reporter Daniel de Visé for more.

Daniel, thanks for hopping on.

Daniel de Visé:

It's a pleasure.

Taylor Wilson:

So Daniel, let's start here. How much are the nation's homes worth and how has America's home equity been trending in recent years?

Daniel de Visé:

Our homes are worth a collective $32.8 trillion, and that is the value of the homes minus all of the mortgage debt in America. And the number's been rising. The reason I wrote this story is that I was surprised to see the home equity in this country has doubled in seven years, so I guess it's a happy story.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So why has home equity soared in this way?

Daniel de Visé:

Well, home prices have been going bananas. They rose about 40% in a two-year span between 2020 and 2022, and way more than that over the last several years. The house has been a terrific asset to have in the last several years, and that's the main reason.

And then the other thing is, I would say more recently, more people are kind of holding onto their homes because they're reluctant to sell because they've got these great mortgages and the 3% mortgages a lot of people have, you can really build up equity with a mortgage like that. So all that's been working to the favor of rising home equity.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. I want to hear a little bit more about that, Daniel. How does the current reality of higher mortgage rates sort of lock in homeowners to their current properties?

Daniel de Visé:

Well, it's tricky and there's been some zigzagging. Home equity went way up over about a 10-year period when we came out of the Great Recession, home equity was at a trough and a low of about 8 trillion, and it rose just like a ski slope up to around 30 trillion or a little more than that. And then it kind of zigzagged over the last couple years. And I think the reason that happened was home prices sort of zigzagged as these interest rates went up in 2022. But then home prices recovered, and in spite of the fact of interest rates rising, the housing market has been pretty robust and home values have been robust.

And yes, there's all these people, gosh, I think 60% of homeowners still have a mortgage rate of 4% or better, which it sounds insane. And most of them, they will sell over their strenuous objections. Basically, they won't sell unless they have to. And that kind of encourages equity because if you don't sell your home and you're not going to refinance at 7% mortgage rates, you keep building equity year after year.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. What are some of the ways that locked in homeowners can still access their equity even if they're not able or don't want to sell right now?

Daniel de Visé:

Well, so avoid cash-out refi. The cash-out refinance was really popular. Like I saw all my neighbors doing it before mortgage rates went crazy because you could refinance, get an amazing mortgage rate and get cash in your hands. That's a really bad idea now because the rates are so high.

So instead, I have some tips in the story. Consider a home equity loan. They ain't cheap. The average home equity loan rate is eight and a change percent according to Bankrate. The average HELOC, the line of credit is 9%. But consider that if you take out that kind of second mortgage, your principal mortgage remains untouched, and that's very important. So the vast majority of your mortgage remains at this really enviable mortgage rate. You're just taking out a much smaller loan at a higher rate.

Taylor Wilson:

So Daniel, what does all this mean for aspiring homeowners? I know you and I have talked about this, I guess, relative imbalance a lot on the show.

Daniel de Visé:

Well, I was really struck by this statistic that one of my sources said is that the typical homeowner, grab your chair, has 40 times as much wealth as a renter. $400,000 in wealth to the average homeowner versus $10,000 in wealth for the average renter. It's stark, and my goodness, there's no better statistics to encapsulate this sort of haves and have nots situation we've got with homeowners versus aspiring homeowners.

Taylor Wilson:

That is absolutely staggering. Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA TODAY. Thanks, Daniel.

Daniel de Visé:

Thank you, sir.

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Taylor Wilson:

Climate change is making days longer. Two new scientific studies suggest that global warming is changing the rotation of the earth and is also increasing the length of day at an unprecedented rate. As the planet heats up, ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are melting, and this water from the polar regions is flowing into the world's oceans and especially into the equatorial region. This is changing the earth's shape and thus slowing its speed of rotation. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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The average CEO now brings in over 300 times the average workers' pay according to the Economic Policy Institute. All of which begs the question, should this level of unbridled wealth even exist? Current Chair in Ethics of Institutions at Utrecht University, Ingrid Robeyns argues strongly that it should not. She spoke with my co-host, Dana Taylor, to discuss how more people need to have this conversation about capping extreme wealth. You can find that conversation on this feed today, beginning at 4:00 PM Eastern time.

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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sen. Bob Menendez convicted on all counts at sweeping corruption trial | The Excerpt