Federal prosecutors with the Southern District of New York said on Friday they are charging Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and his wife with charges related to alleged bribery and other offenses.
During an 11 a.m. EDT press conference, federal prosecutors unsealed the indictment charging Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, with bribery offenses related to an alleged corrupt relationship with a trio of New Jersey businessmen, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York noted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
This would be the second time Menendez has been indicted. He stood trial several years ago but that ended in a mistrial. The New Jersey Democrat is up for reelection next year,” Politico reported.
“The first time Menendez was indicted, he had been accused of using his political influence to help a Florida eye doctor who had lavished him with gifts and campaign contributions. Menendez appears to be the first sitting senator in U.S. history to have been indicted on two unrelated criminal allegations, according to a list maintained by the Senate Historical Office,” the New York Post reported.
“The new charges follow a yearslong investigation that examined, among other things, the dealings of a New Jersey businessman — a friend of Menendez’s wife — who secured sole authorization from the Egyptian government to certify that meat imported into that country meets Islamic dietary requirements. Investigators also asked questions about the Menendez family’s interactions with a New Jersey developer,” The Post added.
“Menendez faces re-election next year in a bid to extend his three-decade career in Washington, and as Democrats hold a narrow majority in the Senate. Menendez’s political career had looked as though it might be over in 2015, when a federal grand jury in New Jersey indicted him on multiple charges over favors he did for a friend, Dr. Salomon Melgen,” the outlet added.
The long-serving senator has been accused of pressuring government officials to settle a Medicare billing disagreement in favor of Melgen as well as obtaining visas for the physician’s girlfriends and helping to protect a contract the doctor had with the Dominican Republic for the provision of port screening equipment.
Menendez has maintained that he is innocent, while lawyers for the New Jersey Democrat say that Melgen’s gifts and campaign contributions — which have included trips aboard his private jet to a Dominican Republic resort and a Paris vacation — were never bribes but rather offerings from a long-standing friendship.
“Prosecutors are expected to meet with his lawyers in the coming weeks ahead of a final decision. New Jersey’s senior U.S. senator, a Democrat who serves as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez has been under scrutiny by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, The Wall Street Journal reported.
