Bob Menendez, the embattled Democratic Senator from New Jersey, took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to defend himself against the latest federal indictment he faces, which includes charges that he received gold bars in return for wielding his political influence on behalf of foreign governments.
“Almost everyone, including my friends in the press who have reported on it, haven't read the indictment, they've only taken the government's sensational narrative of what the accusations are as truth,” Menendez said. “They haven't sought facts of the allegations. I'm innocent and I intend to prove my innocence not just for me but for the precedent this case will set for you and future members of the Senate.”
The 70-year-old lawmaker said he was “alarmed that the greatest and most ardent defenders of the constitution in this body are among the most vociferous in calling for my resignation” following the newest indictment filed in Manhattan federal court on Jan. 2.
Menendez faces four conspiracy charges, including conspiring to commit bribery, honest services fraud, extortion and acting as a foreign agent.
While he has insisted on his innocence, Menendez stepped down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Sept. 22 after the initial charges were brought against him. He has represented New Jersey in the Senate since 2006.
Prosecutors are seeking to force Menendez to forfeit assets including his New Jersey residence, a 2019 Mercedes-Benz convertible, and about $566,000 worth of cash, gold bars and funds from a bank account.
The indictment contained an image of gold bars investigators seized from Menendez's home, as well as envelopes stuffed with cash, which they discovered inside jackets hanging in his closet. Prosecutors said more than $480,000 in cash was found in his home.
“I understand how the government's accusations, made in the most sensational and purposely damning way possible, its misuse of the grand jury system to bring superseding indictments, even though it had all the information they alleged from the beginning, can be a source of concern and content by some of my colleagues, the political establishment and most importantly the people of New Jersey,” he told the assembled senators. “I get it, and I am suffering greatly as a result of what they have done. After 50 years of public service, this is not how I wanted to celebrate my golden jubilee.”
Menendez insisted that he has “never violated the public trust” and said he has been “a patriot for and of my country.”
In October, Menendez pleaded not guilty to conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the Egyptian government, and to receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from New Jersey businessmen in return for impeding the law enforcement probes they faced.
The latest indictment charges Menendez and his wife Nadine with receiving gold bullion and Formula One tickets in exchange for helping businessman Fred Daibes secure a multimillion-dollar investment for a New Jersey real estate project.
According to the indictment, in June 2021, Menendez introduced Daibes to a member of the Qatari royal family who ran an investment firm. Prosecutors allege Menendez subsequently made favorable public statements regarding Qatar, and that in August 2021, he gave Daibes an advance look at a press release praising that country's government. “You might want to send to them,” Menendez told Daibes in an encrypted message. By May 2022, prosecutors said the unnamed Qatari company had signed a letter of intent to enter a joint venture with Daibes' company.
In May 2022, prosecutors allege that Menendez was rewarded for his efforts when a Qatari official gave a relative of his wife tickets to the Formula One race in Miami, and Daibes gave Menendez a gold bar. Later that month, after he and his wife dined with Daibes, the senator Googled “one-kilo gold price,” prosecutors said.
Daibes and Nadine Menendez have also been indicted, and both have pleaded not guilty. Menendez's trial is set to begin on May 6, 2024.
