New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez faces new counts on Tuesday, as he was charged with obstruction of justice in a superseding indictment in his bribery case.
Federal prosecutors in September accused Menendez and his wife of accepting bribes— including gold, cash, a luxury vehicle and payments toward a home mortgage—from businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes in exchange for advancing their interests, as well as those of the Egyptian government while Menendez was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to court documents. Menendez stepped down from the role following the indictment. He and his wife Nadine Menendez deny all charges against them.
In the indictment unsealed on Tuesday, Menendez and his wife face additional charges, resulting in a new total of 18 criminal counts against the senator. The new charges leveled against Menendez include conspiracy, obstruction of justice, public official acting as a foreign agent, bribery, extortion and honest services wire fraud.
Menendez again denied any wrongdoing and has accused prosecutors of targeting him.
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Newsweek has reached out to Menendez via email for comment on Tuesday.
Many of the new counts also involve alleged schemes with the three New Jersey businessmen, who have already been linked to the senator’s previous indictment, but prosecutors now charge Menendez directly with bribery, extortion and acting as a foreign agent rather than only conspiracy.
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The charges come the day after a judge rejected Menendez’s claims that the search warrants that led to his initial charges were unconstitutional, and just days after one of his co-defendants, Uribe, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Uribe told a judge last week that he provided Nadine Menendez with a Mercedes-Benz “in return for Senator Menendez using his power and influence as a United States senator to get a favorable outcome and to stop all investigations related to one of my associates.”
“I knew that giving a car in return for influencing a United States senator to stop a criminal investigation was wrong, and I deeply regret my actions,” he said.
However, in the new charges, prosecutors allege that Menendez and his wife paid Uribe back for the payments he had made on the Mercedes and falsely referred to that money as a “loan” in conversations with their lawyers, deliberately mischaracterizing the transaction.
Menendez has resisted calls to resign, as his trial is expected to begin Wednesday.
The charges pose a challenge to Menendez’s reelection bid, as the Democratic senator is set to face Garden State voters in November.
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