[dramatic music] ♪ ♪ in august 2024, senator bob menendez, democrat of new jersey, resigned after he convicted of 16 counts in a corruption case. he was later sentenced to 11 years in prison. also that same month, congressman george santos, republican of new york, admitted to filing fraudulent fec reports, embezzling funds from campaign donors, stealing identities, obtaining unemployment benefits through fraud, and on and on. with each scandal, our distrust in government deepens. but believe it or not, there was a time when skepticism of our government ran even deeper than it does today. back in the late 1970s and early '80s, fresh off watergate, trust in government officials was at an all-time low. - people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. well, i'm not a crook. - the operation totally fell off the cliff when americans found out the fbi had conducted a sting operation on the nation's politicians that worked way too well. - there is a new word in the american political vocabulary this morning. the word is "abscam." - eight members of congress are involved.

conviction and sentencing of former senator bob menendez, representative cuellar, his tribal -- trial for september. in the indictment for mayor adams. there is a pattern here. they are all democrats, that is one thing. but those accused of bribing these officials were not associated with countries usually regarded as our adversaries. egypt, azerbaijan, turkey. the other pattern is each case, there was an appeal or intervention by the trump administration. so the former senator made an appeal at his sentencing that he hopes trump will clean up what he called the cesspool, which he regarded to the southern district of new york. trump early on suggested he was being punished for his views on border security by the biden administration. was recently, the department of justice asked that charges against eric adams should be dismissed without prejudice. something being considered by the judge as we meet. how serious is this avenue from malign foreign influence? do these cases come up time to time and we should expect it as part of the political landscape? what is the future of enforcement