Senator Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was indicted on corruption charges by federal prosecutors on Friday morning in a Manhattan court in an influence-peddling scheme involving Egypt.
The unsealed indictment revealed that Menendez’s wife, Nadine, New Jersey real estate mogul Fred Daibes, and two other business associates are being charged alongside the lawmaker.
Led by Southern District of New York attorney Damian Williams, in June 2022, investigators conducted a search of Menendez’s residence in New Jersey and found $100,000 worth of gold bars, nearly half a million dollars in cash, “much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe,” and a brand new Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible.
“Menedez and Nadine Menedez agreed to and did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using Menedez’s power and influence as a Senator to seek to protect and enrich” his allies “and to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt,” the indictment reads. “Among other actions, Menendez provided sensitive U.S. government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt,” the filing notes.
Menedez vowed to fight the charges in a statement released Friday afternoon. “For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempted to silence my voice and dig my political grave,” the senator wrote. “The excesses of these prosecutors is apparent.”
Menendez also argued that racial bias motivated the Southern District’s decision to pursue legal charges against him. “Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. Senator and serve with honor and distinction.”
“I have been falsely accused before because I refused to back down to the powers that be and the people of New Jersey were able to see through the smoke and mirrors and recognize I was innocent,” Menendez added.
In 2015, Menendez was indicted on bribery charges in a case in which federal prosecutors alleged the senator traded political influence for kickbacks, including extravagant trips and campaign donations. “This is not how my career is going to end,” Menendez said during a press conference at the time in Newark. “Today contradicts my public service career and my entire life.”
Menedez was accused at the time, among other things, of lobbying to revise Medicare policies during the Obama administration in exchange for financial contributions from Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye surgeon, to assist the senator’s 2012 reelection bid. The subsequent trial resulted in a hung jury in November 2017.
“To those who were digging my political grave so that they could jump into my seat, I know who you are and I won’t forget you,” Menendez said following the case.
Melgen was later convicted of health-care fraud in 2017, but had his sentence commuted by then-President Donald Trump. Although the Senate Ethics Committee condemned Menendez’s conduct, the embattled politician went on to win his 2018 reelection campaign in a bitter contest against Republican Bob Hugin, a biomedical business executive.
According to the Senate Historical Office, Menedez is the first active senator in American history to be the subject of two unrelated criminal indictments. The New Jersey senator intends to run for his fourth term next year.