Sen. Bob Menendez will not step down despite calls to resign after he was indicted on federal corruption charges related to an alleged years-long bribery scheme, the New Jersey Democrat announced Friday.
“Those who believe in justice believe in innocence until proven guilty,” said Menendez, 69, in a statement.
“I intend to continue to fight for the people of New Jersey with the same success that I have for the past five decades. This is the same record of success praised by the same leaders over the years.”
Menendez, who has served in the Senate since 2006, has wildly claimed that his ethnicity played a role in calls for his removal from the upper chamber.
“It’s not lost on me how quickly someone is quick to judge a Latino and push him out of his seat,” he said.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, 56, with three counts of conspiracy on Friday in connection with what prosecutors called a “corruption deal” that benefited the couple, three New Jersey businessmen and the government Egypt.
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez won’t back down even as he calls for his resignation after he was hit with federal corruption charges related to an alleged years-long bribery scheme.AP
The Democrat allegedly received a $60,000 Mercedes Benz C-Class sedan, 13 gold bars and $566,000 in cash in exchange for providing Egyptian officials with sensitive non-public US government information and lobbying US officials to release $300 million in aid to Cairo.
Prosecutors also said Menendez and his wife accepted mortgage payments, recliners, exercise machines and other items in exchange for protecting the business interests of co-defendants Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, as well as shielding Uribe and Daibes from criminal investigation.
Menendez, while vowing to remain in the Senate, has relinquished his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee “until that matter is resolved,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Friday.
Menendez, who has served in the Senate since 2006, has wildly claimed that his ethnicity played a role in calls for his removal from the upper house.Getty Images
Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy demanded Menendez’s immediate resignation from the Senate amid the allegations, calling the claims in the indictment “so disturbing” and “so serious that it affects Senator Menendez’s ability to effectively represent the people of our state. “
Other Democrats, including Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) and former Attorney General Eric Holder, have also called on Menendez to resign.
What we know about Bob Menendez’s allegations
New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is facing federal corruption charges related to the alleged years-long scheme.
Menendez is accused of accepting bribes, including gold bars, in exchange for helping three businessmen, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, and the Egyptian state, according to officials.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine, allegedly accepted hundreds of thousands in bribes, according to a Manhattan federal indictment.
When the feds raided Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs home in June 2022, they found a 2019 Mercedes C-Class, at least 13 gold bars and $566,000 in cash “stuffed in an envelope.” Another $70,000 in cash was found in Nadine’s safe.
Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his wife, Nadine Menendez, have been indicted on federal corruption charges.AP
The feds said Menendez also received mortgage payments and paid for low or absent work and home furnishings.
This is not the first time the 69-year-old Democrat has faced federal corruption charges. In 2015, Menendez was accused of taking gifts from Florida eye surgeon Salomon Melgen.
“Gifts” include a vacation to Paris, a flight on a private jet and a holiday at Melgen’s villa in the Dominican Republic.
Menendez previously avoided federal indictment in 2017 after a jury deadlocked on bribery and corruption charges, resulting in a misdemeanor.
In that case, prosecutors allege that the Garden State senator received nearly $1 million in private jet flights, vacations and other gifts from Florida ophthalmologist Dr. Salomon Melgen in exchange for obtaining a visa for the doctor’s foreign girlfriend.
Follow The Post’s latest coverage of the indictment of New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez
Investigators also allege Menendez received large political donations in exchange for helping Melgen secure lucrative government contracts.
Menendez was also previously investigated for corruption in 2006 by then-US Attorney Chris Christie in New Jersey over allegations that a non-profit group rented space from him while he helped it secure grant money.
No charges were brought in the case and the investigation was closed in 2011.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
