A Repetitive and Fragmented Narrative of Denial and Apology

How did Robert Menendez fall so hard?  A suspected foreign agent?  Hiding gold bullion?  Pete and John Feeley knew a different man decades ago.  A champion of Latinos in government at the start, a nasty, vindictive, corrupt politician by the end.  Did he change or could you see the germ of his demise from the beginning?  John's view: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Pete's?  An evolution of personality he has never seen anywhere else.