What to Know
- NJ Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, face federal bribery charges stemming from their relationship with three businessmen, prosecutors said, including possible dealings with an admitted felon
- Authorities allege they found nearly $500,000 in cash, much of it hidden in clothing and closets, as well as more than $100,000 in gold bars in a search of the New Jersey home Menendez, 69, shares with his wife
- The issue of whether Menendez improperly accepted gold bars is just one part of the investigation. Officials had been looking into whether Menendez improperly took gifts, including use of a Mercedes and a luxury D.C. apartment, from the owners of a business that later won an exclusive government contract
Sen. Bob Menendez pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to federal charges accusing him of pocketing bribes of cash and gold bars in exchange for wielding his political influence to secretly advance Egyptian interests and do favors for local businessmen.
Menendez made his initial court appearance in Manhattan’s federal court days after prosecutors unsealed an indictment alleging vast corruption by the Democrat, who was forced to step down as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee after being indicted. A lawyer entered the not guilty plea on his behalf.
Menendez led his wife, Nadine, who also pleaded not guilty, by the hand out of the courtroom. The couple ignored shouted questions from reporters as they left the courthouse. Menendez gave a tight-lipped smile as he stepped into a car.
A defiant Menendez has said allegations that he abused his power to line his pockets are baseless. He has said he is confident he will be exonerated and has no intention of leaving the Senate.
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Still, calls for Menendez to resign continued to mount on Wednesday with Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, saying “he should step down.” More than half of Senate Democrats have now said that Menendez should resign, including fellow New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who said the indictment includes "shocking allegations of corruption and specific, disturbing details of wrongdoing."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, speaking to reporters hours after Menendez’s court appearance, did not call for Menendez to resign and said Menendez would address his Democratic colleagues on Thursday. “We all know that senators -- for senators, there’s a much much higher standard. And clearly, when you read the indictment, Sen. Menendez fell way, way below that standard,” said Schumer, D-N.Y.
Menendez spoke in court only when each defendant stood to acknowledge that they understood the charges against them.
The senator was released on a $100,000 bond, and he must surrender any personal passports but will be allowed to keep an official passport that would allow him to travel outside the U.S. for government business. The judge ordered him not to have contact outside of the presence of lawyers with his co-defendants except for his wife.
He also cannot talk about the case, outside of the presence of lawyers, with members of his Senate staff, Foreign Relations Committee staff or political advisers who have personal knowledge about the allegations. It was not immediately clear how those restrictions would affect his work.
Menendez’s wife was released on $250,000 bond secured by her home in her Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Prosecutors say she played a key role in collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes from three New Jersey businessmen seeking help from the longtime lawmaker.
Unlike his first federal corruption trial, New Jersey's Democratic establishment support for Menendez has eroded in the days since the charges were announced. Gov. Phil Murphy, the leaders of the Democrat-led Legislature and the state party chairman were among the first to call for his resignation.
Congressman Andy Kim announced he plans to challenge Menendez to represent the Garden State in the Senate, saying in a written statement that he "felt compelled to run against him" after hearing the senator's rebuke of the charges.
In response to the calls for him to resign, Menendez said at a Monday press conference that "instead of waiting for all the facts to be presented, others have rushed to judgment because they see a political opportunity for themselves or those around them." He added that some are calling on him to resign because he has "lost the trust of the people of New Jersey. That couldn't be more wrong."
Menendez has remained steadfast in his insistence of staying in office as he and his wife face bribery charges.
"I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be New Jersey's senior senator," Menendez said at a Monday press conference in Union City, the city where his political career began back in the 1980s.
Menendez has tapped Abbe Lowell, the same attorney defending Hunter Biden against his tax and firearm charges, to represent him in his federal bribery case, a spokesperson for the prosecutors said. In addition to representing President Joe Biden's son, Lowell has a storied track record with high-profile litigation, including Menendez's past corruption charges.
The current charges against Menendez are the second in a decade that he has faced, with a previous trial involving different allegations ending with jurors failing to reach a verdict in 2017.
Authorities allege they found nearly $500,000 in cash, much of it hidden in clothing and closets, as well as more than $100,000 in gold bars in a search of the New Jersey home Menendez, 69, shares with his wife.
In his first public remarks after last week’s indictment, Menendez said Monday that the cash found in his home was drawn from his personal savings accounts over the years and that he kept it on hand for emergencies. One of the envelopes full of cash found at his home, however, bore Daibes’ DNA and was marked with the real estate developer’s return address, according to prosecutors.
Two of the businessmen, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, also pleaded not guilty and were freed pending trial. They did not speak to reporters as they left the courthouse and their attorneys also declined to comment.
Prosecutors allege repeated actions by Menendez to benefit the authoritarian government of Egypt. They say Menendez also tried to interfere in criminal investigations involving associates, in one case pushing to install in New Jersey a federal prosecutor who he believed he could influence to derail a case.
Two of the businessmen, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, also were arraigned and pleaded not guilty. The third, Wael Hana, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges including conspiracy to commit bribery. Hana was arrested at Kennedy Airport on Tuesday after returning voluntarily from Egypt to face the charges, and he was ordered freed pending trial.
The FBI says Hana bribed Menendez to win a controversial and exclusive business deal with the Egyptian government. Hana was allegedly paying bribes to Menendez and his wife, as Menendez was allegedly controlling military aid to Egypt.
Menendez is also being investigated by federal authorities to see what role foreign intelligence agencies might have played in trying to get information from the senator and his wife, News 4 has learned. The FBI wants to know more about what role Egyptian intelligence agencies might have played in the alleged bribery scheme involving Menendez, who helps oversee billions in aide to Egypt. Additionally, they want to know if Egyptian intelligence or associates tried to gain access through Menendez's wife, Nadine, sources familiar with the case said.
The lawyer for Hana denied his client has ties to Egyptian intelligence, but said Hana and Nadine Menendez have been friends for years. A lawyer for Nadine Menendez declined to comment on the question whether she might have been used by Egyptian intelligence.
Prosecutors said Hana promised to put Menendez’s wife on his company’s payroll in a low- or no-show job in exchange for Menendez using his influential post to facilitate foreign military sales and financing to Egypt. Prosecutors allege Hana also paid $23,000 toward her home mortgage, wrote $30,000 checks to her consulting company, promised her envelopes of cash, sent her exercise equipment and bought some of the gold bars that were found in the couple’s home.
The indictment alleges repeated actions by Menendez to benefit Egypt, despite U.S. government misgivings over the country’s human rights record that in recent years have prompted Congress to attach restrictions on aid.
Prosecutors, who detailed meetings and dinners between Menendez and Egyptian officials, say Menendez gave sensitive U.S. government information to Egyptian officials and ghostwrote a letter to fellow senators encouraging them to lift a hold on $300 million in aid to Egypt, one of the top recipients of U.S. military support.
Prosecutors have accused Menendez of pressuring a U.S. agricultural official to stop opposing a lucrative deal that gave Hana’s company a monopoly over certifying that imported meat met religious standards.
At his press conference earlier in the week, Menendez touted his record of being hard on Egypt over its detention of Americans and other “human rights abuses."
“If you look at my actions related to Egypt during the period described in this indictment and throughout my whole career, my record is clear and consistent in holding Egypt accountable,” he said.
