Embattled Sen. Bob Menendez lashes out against sweeping bribery charges, fellow lawmakers

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., delivered an emotional speech on Tuesday, lashing out at the sweeping changes he faces accusing him of aiding Qatar and Egypt’s governments.

Menendez was hit with a second superseding federal indictment last week alleging he took bribes in exchange for an agreement to help the government of Qatar. Menendez was already accused of taking bribes, including cash and gold bars, in exchange for improperly helping the Egyptian government. 

The embattled New Jersey lawmaker said he was innocent in a 20-minute speech on the Senate floor, first accusing federal prosecutors of leveling multiple filings against him because it effectively keeps “the sensational story in the press.”  

“It poisons the jury pool, and it seeks to convict me in the court of public opinion,” Menendez said, his voice wavering at times, adding, “The sensationalized allegations are now creating a rising call for my resignation, despite my innocence, and before a single piece of evidence has even been introduced in a court of law.”  

But Menendez also railed against the allegations themselves, insisting that he has long criticized both Qatar and Egypt over human rights abuses and other issues and that he was not bribed by actors in the country.  

Prosecutors allege the senator took money and gold bars while knowing he was expected to perform acts that would benefit the Qatari government and help another defendant, Fred Daibes, get a multimillion-dollar investment from a fund tied to that government. Menendez knew he was expected to take actions that would help Qatar to induce a Qatari investment company to invest with Daibes, officials say.  

Menendez and two co-defendants, wife Nadine Menendez and Wael Hana, were also charged last year with conspiracy to represent the government of Egypt and Egyptian officials. The indictment cites the three with meeting at Manhattan restaurants with Egyptian officials on June 30, 2018, and Sept. 21, 2019, as part of the alleged conspiracy.  

But the lawmaker, who surrendered his chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee until the case is resolved, further accused government officials and his fellow members of Congress of convicting him before his day in court. A federal judge has set a May trial date for Menendez.

Members of Congress, including a slate of Senate Democrats, and New Jersey officials have all called on Menendez to resign. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., last week asked in a post on X, formerly Twitter, "How much more before we finally expel @SenatorMenendez?"

Contributing: Bart Jansen and Aysha Bagchi, Paste BN