This week has brought even more bad news for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), as prosecutors brought 12 news charges against the embattled senator, after he was already charged last September and hit with new charges in early January. "Unveiled on Tuesday, the superseding indictment now charges Menendez with a total of 16 criminal counts over allegations he accepted luxurious bribes in exchange for his political influence and acted as an agent of the Egyptian government," The Hill reported. His wife has also been charged.
These more recent charges come after a co-defendant took a plea deal. As The Hill further mentions:
Many of the new counts involve alleged schemes with three New Jersey businessmen already brought to light in the senator’s previous indictments, but prosecutors now charge Menendez directly with bribery, extortion and acting as a foreign agent rather than merely bringing conspiracy charges.
The new charging documents follow the recent guilty plea of Jose Uribe, one of three businessmen charged alongside Menendez and his wife, Nadine. The other businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, also face new charges.
Prosecutors allege that Menendez told his attorneys to tell the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in June and September about his knowledge of a more than $23,000 payment Hana made toward Nadine Menendez’s mortgage and the funds Uribe paid toward the Mercedes-Benz convertible.
The New Jersey Democrat also allegedly urged his counsel to tell the prosecuting office that he later learned the funds were loans.
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The latest indictment also details a previously unknown meeting between Daibes and Nadine Menendez.
In light of the indictments against him, Menendez has had some creative responses before. During a press conference last September he mentioned the "history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba." He also brought identity politics further into it. "Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. Senator and serve with honor and distinction," he claimed in a statement. "Even worse, they see me as an obstacle in the way of their broader political goals."
Menendez has also refused to resign, leading to some epic trolling from his Democratic colleague, Sen. John Fetterman (PA), who back in January also dared him to run for reelection.
Tuesday's announcement also comes after a federal judge on Monday rejected his request to toss out evidence, after Menendez had challenged five search warrants and argued they repeatedly violated his Fourth Amendment rights.
"Menendez" has been trending over X in light of the new indictments that were brought against him and his wife.
BREAKING: U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and his wife have been charged with obstruction of justice in a superseding indictment in the bribery case against him. pic.twitter.com/y4nAj1yNeY
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) March 5, 2024
Democrat Senator Bob Menendez and his wife are charged with obstruction pic.twitter.com/PTwWC4F5rI
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) March 5, 2024
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