Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez and His Wife Indicted on Federal Bribery Charges
“Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-who job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value,” according to the indictment issued by a grand jury in Manhattan federal court.”
Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine have been indicted on federal bribery charges in the Southern District of New York.
“A press event will be held today at 11:00 a.m. to announce the unsealing of an indictment charging Robert Menendez, U.S. Senator from New Jersey, and his wife, Nadine Menendez, with bribery offenses in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen,” tweeted the office.
A press event will be held today at 11:00 a.m. to announce the unsealing of an indictment charging Robert Menendez, U.S. Senator from New Jersey, and his wife, Nadine Menendez, with bribery offenses in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen. pic.twitter.com/CLTXnU0mAm
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) September 22, 2023
From the indictment (emphasis mine):
From at least 2018 up to and including in or about 2022, MENENDEZ and his wife, NADINE MENENDEZ, a/k/a “Nadine Arslanian,” the defendant, engaged in a corrupt relationship with three New Jersey associates and businessmen—WAEL HANA, ida “Will Hana,” JOSE URIBE, and FRED DAIBES, the defendants—in which MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ agreed to and did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using MENENDEZ’s power and influence as a Senator to seek to protect and protect HANA, URIBE, and DAIBES and to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt. Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value.
I emphasized Egypt because Menendez is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Federal agents executed a search warrant at the couple’s house and in their safe deposit box.
The indictment claims the agents found proof of their bribery agreement with the three businessmen.
Some of the items include $480,000 in cash hidden around the house, $70,000 in Nadine’s safe deposit box, a luxury vehicle paid for by Uribe, and $100,000 worth in gold bars.
The alleged corruption happened between 2018-2022. Which country was a top receiver of American aid? Egypt:
At all times relevant to this Indictment, Egypt was among the largest recipients in the world of U.S. military aid. Between approximately 2018 and approximately 2022, the U.S. Government supplied substantial military aid to Egypt, including in the form of grants of over $1 billion per year (“foreign military financing”), and in the form of direct government-to-government sales of military equipment (“foreign military sales”), which Egypt typically paid for with foreign military financing, and which the Executive Branch was required to notify Congress about under certain circumstances prior to going forward with those sales.
The State Department reviews and approves the foreign aid.
However, the department doesn’t usually transfer the aid to Egypt to its bank account in Manhattan if the Chairman or Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee had not signed off on it.
“As a result, at all times relevant to the Indictment, ROBERT MENENDEZ, the defendant, as the Chairman or the Ranking Member of the SFRC, possessed substantial influence over foreign military sales and foreign military financing to Egypt,” it says in the indictment.
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Comments
Well good. Now do Joe Biden. Maybe favors for Egypt don’t count as much as favors for China..
You’re confusing this with an honest effort to objectively enforce the law. Not sure what their game is but the corrupt DOJ doesn’t do honest and objective. And they don’t care about crooked democrats. Something else is at play here.
Menendez has been in the ethical cross hairs before and come out safe. It seems this is a safe play by DOJ to say look at us we’re fair. Like ‘Idonttweet’ says below..
Menendez’ entire career has been one scandal after another. A Joe Biden pattern of payoffs and corruption, except without the international intrigue and the skillful evasions and coverups.
Still, Democrats love re-electing not just their bad boys, like fraudster Ilhan Omar, and inside trader Nancy Pelosi, but their outright convicted jailbird felons. Buddy Cianci. Alcee Hastings. Marion Barry. Joe Ganim.
In the Big Book of Criminal Democrats, Menendez will barely rate a footnote.
Menendez was under the mistaken impression that what went in NJ politics transferred to DC. He forgot you have to have the right last name
I’m sure the readers here have noted the similarities in the allegations against two noted politicians.
Both corruptly took advantage of their positions of influence in foreign affairs to benefit themselves. Menendez as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Gropey Joe as VP and later POTUS.
Both corruptly influenced events to the benefit of corrupt foreign governments and individuals at the expense of the United States and the American taxpayer. Menendez aiding Egypt and the others indicted with him and Touchy-Feely Joey helping Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs and Chinese intelligence and energy officials.
Both tried to hide their corrupt activities by laundering the transactions through their spouse, in the case of Menendez, and hiding behind their siblings, children, and grandchildren, in the case of the Vegetable in Chief.
I’m certainly not going to claim that these are the only two pulling this scam, nor that it’s isolated to Democrats, but they’re the two who have been publicly implicated so far. As noted elsewhere, it does make you wonder what they’re trying to distract from or otherwise hide by bringing this indictment.
Is DOJ trying to demonstrate that they’re being fair and not influenced by partisan considerations by charging another Democrat? And what did Menendez do to end up in the crosshairs and expendable?
Several years ago, Menendez actually took an honest position and did not support the Democratic leadership.. I don’t recall the details.
They have been coming after him for a while but needed his votes.. If he always followed the leaders, he could have done 10X as much criminality and would never have to worry about the Merrick Garland “injustice” department.
the Bidens have to be very scared to do this to Menendez.
Just cover for Joe and Hunter before the Trump Dog and Pony Show gets off the ground. Bobby has been corrupt his whole career
Just a measly few hundred thousand? And he was arrested by Joe Biden’s DoJ? He must have neglected to kick a percentage up to “the big guy.” There’s no other reasonable explanation for why they would go after this amateur.
It’s like Spiro Agnew — Spiro wasn’t indicted for taking bribes, he was indicted for taking $150 a week…
Does the Biden Crime Syndicate boss, Jill, charge an extra 10% when someone is slow or no pay?
My prediction*
1. He wont resign
2. He is up for reelection he will win by 15 pts in NJ
3. Trial will end in hung/mistrial
4. DoJ will drop charges
*Same thing that happened 2015-2018
EXACTLY!!
He goes to trial as a character witness for Hunter obideN.
Who keeps 480K cash hidden around the house?
Especially when you know they’re after you?
That’s dumb.
Now, I wonder why they’ve been after him for so long yet they’ve never really got him. There’s a lot of them career politicians making a lot of shady dough from their positions and nobody bothers them.
Joe Biden, for example.
Seems to me MOST career politicians are or have been involved in questionable behavior, “they is only humans”…. As long as you follow the unwritten ‘code of ethics for career politicians’ most politicians stay out of jail (limelight) resulting in unearned family wealth.
He goes to trial as a character witness for Hunter obideN……Didnt the feds find a half million dollars in some colored politicians freezer a while back? They let him go (free). Politicians are elected use car salespeople.
No, they did not let him go. They threw the book at him, including parts that aren’t even in the book, i.e. so-called “honest services fraud”, which is an abomination that the Supreme Court has been wrestling with for decades. He served five years and five months.
Running money? 1/2 a $ million doesn’t go as far as it used to but you could get pretty far, pretty fast with it and have enough left over for a modest life. Especially if you had another stash at your destination or better yet crypto.
I know a number of preppers who keep the bulk of their cash and hard assets
“in the house,” especially after this year’s “bail-in” scare and Silicon Valley Bank.
(Of course, not a half million dollars, ‘cuz they ain’t GOT a half million dollars.)
A bail in isn’t beyond the realm of the possible at some not so distant future date.
Wow. Egypt is impressive here. The Bidens were able to extort tens-of-millions from China, Ukraine and who knows who else. Egypt gets the job done for pennies on the dollar.
Depends what “the job” was. What exactly was Egypt paying for (if the payments even came from Egypt, which is not alleged)? If it was just his general goodwill, that’s not even a crime. These prosecutors will have to prove a quid pro quo. Payment in return for specific votes or official acts. And if those were acts he was going to do anyway, anything he got for them was lagniappe.
Menendez was or is anti abortion I believe. If he should happen to “grow in office” and become pro abortion, these charges might be thrown out as ‘no reasonable prosecutor’ would pursue them at a future date..
Joe Manchin is the only Democrat Senator who voted against the Democrat bill to legalize abortion in all 50-states. I have never read anything about Menendez being ‘pro-life.’ In fact, last year, Menendez was one of the co-sponsors of the “Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022.” I have no idea what positions he may have held earlier in in his political history. But, for the last decade or more, he’s been just as pro-abortion as anyone in Congress.
Maybe I’ve got the wrong Dem Senator in mind.
Oh, please. He’s a Democrat indicted in Manhattan. He’ll walk.
Nadine answers the age old question
“yes, it’s me”
DOJ trying to straighten their halo by finally indicting some dims
wonder who is next ?
Next will be a Republican (Other than President Trump, I mean) in order to foster the illusion that they are impartial.
Garland’s DOJ indicts a D’rat? You can be sure there is some hidden agenda here.
Reading through the indictment, my guess is the Democrats understood that Menendez’ behavior was so brazen and involved so many inside the government that they had no choice but to pull the trigger before a reporter got wind of the full story. It’s one thing to sell a vote to the highest bidder. After all, who really knows the real story there other than the politician and the person/entity buying the vote. Menendez took his briber/extortion to a whole other level, often using his influence as a Senator to change behavior of career bureaucrats. You do that enough – and Menendez apparently did – you’re going to be sending up so many red-flags, even a friendly DOJ simply can’t ignore it.
The press seems to be going along with it. They’re actually using the word ‘Democrat’ within the first few paragraphs of their stories instead of the absolute last paragraph.
Merrick must think he really had a bad day yesterday to play this card now
one would think that Krisp Kreme would drop out of the Prezzy race and run for Menedez’s seat in the Senate
but then his CNN spots would stop
NYT, just today
McGreevey looking to make a political comeback
oh boy
This guy’s picture should appear next to sleaze ball in the dictionary. Have you seen his wife? He can always put her out on the streets, hooking for disabled, elderly longshoremen.
She looks like every Burning Man aficionada I’ve ever seen photos of.
I heard a former federal prosecutor say on TV this morning that the thin string that Menendez may walk on is what the SCOTUS has labeled a bribe or Quid Pro Quo. If the money/gifts were just that and not for services rendered, then it is not bribery. Evidently, his wife wrote emails demanding payment from the three because of his efforts on their behalf. That may be the most damaging evidence they have. If this is tried in NJ, you can bet there will be at least one juror that will vote no and it will be hung again like 6 years ago.
Demanding payment because of his efforts is not bribery. Demanding payment in return for his efforts is. The difference is whether the efforts are in the past or the future, and whether they will happen if there is no payment.
IMO this is another wag the dog scenario. The talking point will now be that of course there’s not a two tier system of justice, we just indicted a Dem for bribery, because there was evidence of his crimes, and the reason nothing is being done about the Biden family is proof that there is no evidence of wrong doing for them.
A quick scan of the comments seems to reveal a fairly constant lack of belief in the integrity of both our government and the legal system. Comments?
Subotai Bahadur
NO! 👍
I think it would be more accurate to say it’s a belief in the lack of integrity of democrats.
I’ve come to not trust most of these bastards regardless of party.
Because a fair number of us have a fairly constant lack of belief in the integrity of both our government and the legal system.
Here, or somewhere surprising?
I for one am all in favor of our self appointed overlords! Hi FBI/DHS guys!
I literally can’t comprehend this.
Apparently when they executed a search warrant they found $480,000 in cash in his house, just sitting in envelopes in the pockets of jackets and whatnot.
Like, I understand taking bribes.
But you’re taking bribes and literally just leaving the bribe money lying around your house.
What’s the point of taking the bribe then, if you aren’t actually using the money?!?!?!
I think they devoted a whole season of Breaking Bad to this conundrum. If you haven’t seen it, I think Menendez still has it playing on a loop in the waiting room of his’ car wash in Hoboken.
You got it all wrong. They been listening to Dave Ramsey and put money for each category of expenses or purpose into a separate envelope to differentiate it from the rest.
Also, fake but still hilarious:
https://twitter.com/normouspenis/status/1705241850381266970
Not sure how or why, but Bob Menendez has done something to seriously piss off the democrat establishment and the deep state. Accused of selling his office for a pile of trinkets worth less than the drugged-out child of the “big guy” was paid in one year as a “director” at Burisma. Hilarious.
What are federal bribery and corruption “charges” to a Democrat? Why would he resign? He’s no doubt funneled some of that money to other Democrats, and they won’t say a mumblin’ word. Being a Democrat means never having to say “I’m sorry.”