Bob Menendez hit with obstruction of justice charges in bribery case
The new charges allege that the New Jersey Democrat claimed payments made to him and his wife were loans when he “well knew” that they “were not loans, but bribe payments.”
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was hit Tuesday with charges alleging that he and his wife conspired to obstruct justice in the bribery case against them.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 23, 2024.Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images fileThe superseding indictment against Menendez and his wife, Nadine, brings the total number of federal charges facing the once-powerful head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to 18.
The new indictment comes just days after one of Menendez’s co-defendants, New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the probe.
The document cites a meeting Nadine Menendez had with Uribe in 2022 after federal investigators had issued subpoenas seeking information about payments he'd made on a luxury car for her, which prosecutors said was part of the bribery scheme. She asked Uribe what he'd tell investigators, and he said he'd tell them it was a loan, the filing says. She told him that "sounded good," according to the indictment.
The indictment said the senator first had his lawyer tell investigators that he was unaware of the car payments or mortgage payments from another businessman that prosecutors said were also part of the bribery scheme. He later had his attorney tell investigators he'd found out they had been loans, the indictment said, when he "well knew" that they "were not loans, but bribe payments."
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