Sen. Bob Menendez (D.N.J.) was indicted Tuesday on charges of conspiring with his wife to obstruct justice in a bribery case.
The superseding charges against Menendez and his wife, Nadine, bring the total number of federal charges facing the once-powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman to 18.
The new indictment comes days after one of Menendez's co-defendants in the case, New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
The document cites a meeting Nadine Menendez had with Uribe in 2022 after federal investigators issued a subpoena seeking information about the money Nadine Menendez paid Uribe for a luxury car. Prosecutors allege it was part of a bribery scheme. She asked Mr. Uribe what he was going to tell investigators, and Mr. Uribe told her it was a loan, according to her filing. She told him “it felt good,” according to her indictment.
According to the indictment, the senator first had his lawyer tell investigators he had no knowledge of car payments or mortgage payments from another businessman, which prosecutors say were also part of the bribery scheme. claims. The indictment says the defendant then had his attorney tell investigators that he was “well aware” that the loan “was not a loan but a bribe payment.”
The senator called the new charges a “flagrant abuse of power” in a statement Tuesday.
“The government has known for a long time that I knew about the loans (not bribes) provided to my wife and helped repay them,” he said, adding that prosecutors “excessively” and “grabbed me.” “I'm trying to do that,” he accused.
“I am innocent and I will prove it no matter how many charges they pile on,” he added.
Attorneys for Bob and Nadine Menendez did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Prosecutors allege that Menendez and his wife used Menendez's political influence to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Other valuables. ”
The superseding indictment is the third since he was first indicted in September.
Both have maintained their innocence.
