2023-09-23 14:42:18
Democrat Bob Menendez is being prosecuted by the New York federal prosecutor. He is suspected of having received hundreds of thousands of dollars to further the interests of the Egyptian government.
The U.S. Senator Bob Menendezat the head of the very powerful Foreign Affairs Committee, is being prosecuted for corruption, the second indictment of the elected Democrat in less than ten years, the New York federal prosecutor announced on Friday.
According to prosecutor Damian Williamsthe senator accepted “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in bribes from three New Jersey residents between 2018 and 2022, “using his power and influence to protect and enrich these businessmen and support the Egyptian government. His wife Nadine Menendez is also continued.
The FBI discovered wads of cash in his jacket pockets and gold bars at his home.
The federal police, the FBI, found during a search of the couple’s home “wads of notes stuffed in the pockets of his jacket”, three kilos of “gold bars” and a luxury car, all elements “which were part of the fraud”, detailed the prosecutor.
The senator strongly disputed the accusations. “For years, people behind the scenes have been trying to silence me and bury me politically”, he denounced in a press release. He announced that he was temporarily stepping down from his post as head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. A decision welcomed by Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Bob Menendez “has the right to a fair trial”, he nevertheless stressed.
Calls for resignation in the Democratic camp
But calls for his resignation arose, including within his own camp.
“These are serious charges that implicate national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system (…). This is why I call for his immediate resignation“, the Democratic governor of New Jersey said in a statement, Phil Murphy.
“It doesn’t escape me how quick some people are to judge a Latino and push him out. I’m not going anywhere.”
In a new statement later Friday, Robert Menendez rejected these growing calls. “I plan to continue to fight for the people of New Jersey,” he said. “It doesn’t escape me how quick some are to judge a Latino and push him out. I won’t go anywhere“added the senator.
Robert Menendez, 69, of Cuban origin and born in New York, is an old hand in Washington politics. Elected as a Democrat for New Jersey to the House of Representatives between 1993 and 2006, then to the Senate, he is one of the most influential voices on diplomatic matters in the American capital.
Trial canceled in 2017
The elected official has already had trouble with the federal justice system. A very rare occurrence for a senator, he had been indicted for corruption in 2015but his trial was canceled in 2017, due to lack of a unanimous verdict from the jurors.
The following year, the Justice Department, under the presidency of Republican Donald Trump, asked a judge todrop all corruption charges targeting Robert Menendez.
It was accused of having used his position to defend the interests of a rich ophthalmologist friendFlorida businessman and donor Salomon Melgen in exchange for gifts and campaign funding.
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