What does a BIDEN Presidency look like?

[Savonarola]

US Senator Bob Menendez and wife charged in bribery inquiry

US Senator Bob Menendez and wife charged in bribery inquiry

New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez has been indicted for allegedly accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, according to the Justice Department.

Prosecutors say Mr Menendez and his wife accepted gold bars and envelopes of cash from New Jersey businessmen.

The senator and his wife accepted the money to secretly aid the Egyptian government, prosecutors allege.

Both Mr and Ms Menendez have vehemently denied the charges.

The pair each face three criminal counts: conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.

The indictment comes after a years-long Justice Department investigation.

Prosecutors allege Mr Menendez and his wife Nadine accepted bribes of cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage and a luxury vehicle from three New Jersey men: Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes.

In addition to helping the Egyptian government, they also took the bribes to use Mr Menendez's power as a senator to protect the three businessmen, according to the indictment.

Mr Menendez, 69, is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee and was elected to a third term in the Senate in 2018.

His "leadership position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (the "SFRC"), first as the Ranking Member and then the Chairman" allowed him to peddle influence in these areas, the 39-page indictment says.

In a statement from her lawyers, Mrs Menendez denied any wrongdoing and said she will defend herself in court.

Mr Menendez also denied the allegations and painted them as politically motivated.

"For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempted to silence my voice and dig my political grave," he said in a lengthy statement. "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."

"I am confident that this matter will be successfully resolved once all of the facts are presented and my fellow New Jerseyans will see this for what it is," he added.

In the summer of 2022, federal agents executed search warrants at Mr Menendez's home and found evidence of the bribery agreements, including over $480,000 (£391,000) in cash, much of which was "stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe", prosecutors allege.

Agents said they also found a Mercedes-Benz luxury vehicle paid for by Mr Uribe parked in the garage, as well as $100,000 of gold bars in the home, pictures of which were included in the indictment.



Speaking at a news conference on Friday, prosecutors quoted from Mr Menendez's website, in which he details the limits of his power as a legislator, including not being able to intervene in criminal cases.

"Behind the scenes, Senator Menendez was doing those things for certain people - the people who were bribing him in his wife," said Damian Williams, the US Attorney for Southern District of New York.

In the indictment, prosecutors allege Mr Menendez's wife worked with one of the three New Jersey businessmen, Mr Hana, to introduce the senator to Egyptian intelligence and military officials. Mr Hana - who is originally from Egypt - exchanged thousands of text messages with Mrs Menendez, which she deleted from her cell phone, according to prosecutors.

Mr Hana and Mrs Menendez set up a "corrupt agreement" in which the New Jersey businessman provided money so that the senator would benefit the Egyptian government with foreign military sales and foreign military financing, the indictment alleges.

On one occasion, prosecutors say Mr Menendez secretly ghost-wrote a letter on behalf of the Egyptian government seeking to convince other US senators to release a hold on $300m in aid to Egypt.

In exchange for help to Egyptian officials, Mr Hana agreed to compensate Mrs Menendez with a "low-or-no-show" job, according to prosecutors.

Mr Menendez is also accused of accepting the Mercedes Benz convertible in exchange for impeding a New Jersey state criminal prosecution into one of Mr Uribe's associates.

As a result of the charges, Mr Menendez and his wife have been asked to forfeit several assets, including their New Jersey home.

The BBC has reached out to businesses owned by Mr Hana and Mr Daibes for comment. The Embassy of Egypt in Washington DC did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr Menendez, his wife and their three co-defendants are scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court on 27 September.

This is not the first time Mr Menendez faces bribery charges. The senator, who has served in Congress since 2006, was indicted in New Jersey in 2015 over allegations he accepted bribes - including luxury vacations - from a wealthy Florida eye doctor.

That case ended in a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

I see the deep state has gone all bi-partisan in the Biden presidency.  Trump should pick him as a running mate;
 if nothing else the gold bars should give him status with the Alternative Currency / Gold Standard crowd.

[Valmy]

How soon can he be expelled from the Senate? We need to get his replacement in there ASAP to defend the seat.

[viper37]

How soon can he be expelled from the Senate? We need to get his replacement in there ASAP to defend the seat.

It's the difference between Republicans and Democrats, lately.  The GOP rally around their own corrupt representatives while the Dems shun them.

[DGuller]

Let's not bury Bob Menendez just yet.  People have been out to get him with various corruption charges for decades.  He may yet be getting indicted while in office for many more terms to come.

[garbon]

He kept stacks of cash in jacket pockets as that is just the most convenient place for cash.

[grumbler]

He kept stacks of cash in jacket pockets as that is just the most convenient place for cash.

And, while he doesn't really believe that the Zombie Apocalypse is coming, he's hoarding gold just in case it does.

[Admiral Yi]

Joe joined a UAW picket line.

[Sheilbh]

Interestingly, so did Josh Hawley.

[DGuller]

Joe joined a UAW picket line.

So is Kamala running things for the moment?

[Josquius]

Overheard on the news yesterday that apparently union members are more likely to be pro Trump?   

[viper37]

Overheard on the news yesterday that apparently union members are more likely to be pro Trump?   

CdM said so a while ago, shortly after 2016.
They are against free trade and immigration if it has a hint of threatening their position.

[grumbler]

Overheard on the news yesterday that apparently union members are more likely to be pro Trump?   

Half of the workers in the building trades are pro-Trump, but his support is much weaker in the non-building-trades.  Of the 15 states with union membership above 15%, Trump leads only in Alaska among union members.

The building trades (among the union trades) are the ones most impacted by immigration.

[Oexmelin]

Interestingly, so did Josh Hawley.

Missouri is both pro Trump and pro union. He knows his electorate

[Sheilbh]

Yeah - and his national pitch of populist/"pro-worker" conservatism. There's been precious little substance on that so far - although he, with a few other Republicans and some on the left like Sanders, voted against Biden imposing a deal on rail workers. Again he's one I'd keep a beady eye on because I think he's concerning - admittedly I have in the past thought the same of DeSantis and (in a different way) Scott Walker, so my record is not great

But both visiting a picket line feels like another straw in the wind of how politics are shifting, especially when you have Obama's auto industry task force head saying that this is Biden bowing to the progressives "and now he's going out there to put his thumb on the scale. And it's wrong."

[PJL]

Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if some of the Trump sympathisers in the unions voted for Sanders in the 2016 & 2020 Democrat primaries. They may have even voted for Trumps in those elections too.