Menendez, wife indicted for bribery

Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and his wife Nadine are both under indictment on charges of acceptance of bribes. More seriously, Menendez stands accused of being an agent for the government of Egypt. This is also the second such indictment the New Jersey Senator has faced in his career.

The Menendez indictment

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York sought the indictment and reported it yesterday. (Just the News, The Daily Caller,and the Associated Press reported it.) CourtListener’s docket page shows the government filed the indictment under seal on Thursday (September 21). Magistrate Judge Jennifer Willis unsealed it yesterday.

The indictment names five defendants in all: Senator and Mrs. Menendez (alias “Nadine Aslanian”), and three New Jersey businessmen. Paragraph 1 of the indictment charges that the Senator and his wife did favors for the three, and for Egypt. The favors included the sharing of “sensitive U.S. government information” with Egyptian officials and Wael “Will” Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman. Paragraph 2 describes the other two motives for corrupt behavior:

• Interfering with the investigation and prosecution of one Jose Uribe by the New Jersey Attorney General, and
• Indirectly interfering with a federal case against one Fred Daibes, by getting President Biden to nominate a sympathetic U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

A search warrant executed against Menendez’ house and safe deposit box recovered:::::::::::

• More than half a million dollars in cash, much of it stuffed into envelopes and clothes pockets,
• Expensive furniture and an equally expensive luxury car, and
• Over a hundred thousand dollars in gold bullion.

Personalities, counts and forfeitures

Wael Hana seems to be the key man, as Uribe and Daibes were business associates of his. Uribe has a conviction for fraud on his record and has had an insurance broker’s license revoked. Daibes, a real-estate developer and bank founder, raised funds for Menendez. The U.S. Attorney for New Jersey charged him with borrowing from the bank he founded under false pretenses. Hana lobbied Menendez hard for facilitating military aid to Egypt, in the form of sales of military equipment and financial aid for the purchases.

The counts in the indictment involve conspiracy to commit:

1. Bribery (as to all five),
2. Honest services fraud (as to all five), and
3. Extortion under color of official right (as to the Senator and his wife).

Finally the indictment seeks forfeiture of the assets, and of other assets apparently purchased with bribery proceeds. The rather staggering list includes without limit:

1. The Menendez house in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey,
2. A 2019 Mercedes-Benz C-class convertible,
3. $486,461 taken from the house,
4. $79,760 taken from the safe deposit box,
5. Two gold bars, weighing one kilogram each, taken from the house,
6. Eleven gold bars, weighing one Troy ounce each, also taken from the house, and
7. All funds in a bank account at PNC Bank in the name of one of the businesses involved in the scheme.

Prior history

Menendez came under indictment in 2015, for “honest services fraud” involving an eye doctor practicing in Miami. That investigation began as an ethics complaint against the Senator for accepting lavish gifts from the ophthalmologist and not reporting them. But in 2017 that case ended in a mistrial from jury deadlock, according to the AP.

The Senator has stepped down as chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. But he refuses to resign from the Senate itself, though Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) has already so demanded.

Menendez denies the allegations, and released this statement in email:

For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempted to silence my voice and dig my political grave. Since this investigation was leaked nearly a year ago, there has been an active smear campaign of anonymous sources and innuendos to create an air of impropriety where none exists.

Why is this happening to Menendez now?

That arrogant tone is familiar to all who have followed New Jersey politics. In 2010, a year when neither New Jersey Senator was up for reelection, Menendez became the first U.S. Senator to face a recall from voters. (When Menendez received notice of the recall action, RoseAnn Salanitri, then of the Skylands Tea Party, organized the recall. She charged that his support of unconstitutional laws, constituted a violation of his oath of office. But the Supreme Court of New Jersey ultimately ruled that United States Senators cannot be subject to recall. Under Article I Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, the Senate and only the Senate may judge a member.

Salanitri told CNAV then that “Menendez turned on [then-President Barack H.] Obama.” Specifically, when Obama pursued normalization of relations with Cuba, Menendez opposed this. Whether President Biden similarly feels that the Senator has “turned on” him is not clear.

The Daily Caller suggests that Hunter Biden has a connection to Menendez in an unrelated matter. Emails on the infamous Hunter Biden Laptop show that Hunter suggested to a Spanish rail company that they lobby Menendez for unspecified protection. This comes from a new site that bills itself as an archive of the laptop.

Gregg Jarrett, a legal analyst for Fox News, suggested the Senator faces “smoking gun evidence.”

Still, Menendez has a long history of facing, and beating, accusations of corrupt practices.