Republican U.S. Senate challenger Christine Serrano Glassner is blistering “Gold Bar Bob” Menendez over his three-count bribery indictment of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York this morning.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“The indictment of Sen. Menendez is a sad day for New Jersey, but not surprising. ‘Gold Bar Bob’ has been battling credible allegations of corruption throughout most of his time in office, all while being protected and enabled by his cronies and allies in Washington,” Serrano Glassner, also the mayor of Mendham, said in a statement.
“Meanwhile, New Jersey had the highest unemployment increase in the country over the past year, and hard-working New Jerseyans are struggling to put gas in their cars and food on their tables. So, while Bob Menendez has been enriching himself and his family, his policies have been impoverishing the New Jerseyans he was elected to represent. I’m running for Senate to fight against this culture of corruption embodied by Bob Menendez and bring change that will empower New Jerseyans and bring economic relief to the people who have worked hardest for it.”
The three count indictment charges Menendez and his wife with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color and official right.
They are accused of having a “corrupt relationship” with New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes. They are charged with the first two counts.
” … [The Menendezes] 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 enrich Hana, Uribe, and Daibes and to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt,” the indictment says.
“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.”
Overall, the indictment charges that the Menendezes accepted corrupt payments for their mortgage, a 2019 Mercedes-Benz C-Class C300, $486,471 in cash, another $79,760 from the safe deposit box, two one-kilogram gold bars, and 11 one-ounce gold bars.
The U.S. Senate race for Menendez’s seat is on June 4th, 2024, but now the incumbent’s ability to make it to the ballot is in serious jeopardy.
Menendez was charged with bribery by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2015, accused of performing official favors for his friend and co-defendant Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor, but that ended in a hung jury in late 2017.
