A judge ruled that the Senator Bob Menendez does not have legislative immunity. Despite claiming that his position in Congress granted him "protection" against these allegations, the Democrat will not be able to avoid the federal trial for four counts of conspiracy and accepting bribes.
Sidney H. Stein, district judge in Manhattan, stated in the ruling that charges alleging the Democrat accepted bribes in exchange for political favors cannot be withdrawn on the grounds that members of Congress are granted additional protections against certain laws:
The fact that this information sharing is part of a corrupt scheme prevents a characterization of those discussions as legislative acts.
Menendez faces new charges
Menendez faces new charges linked to a bribery scheme also involving his wife, Nadine Menendez, and other associates. The scheme was allegedly years in the making and are known to have involved the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
Among the new charges: he is accused of "conspiracy, obstruction of justice, being a public official acting as a foreign agent, bribery, extortion and honest services wire fraud."
All of these charges came to light one day after José Uribe - one of the businessmen also accused - agreed to cooperate with the investigation and plead guilty.
Menendez Superseding Indict... by Veronica Silveri .
Menendez denies accusations
The Democrat had already faced four other charges of "conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, and conspiracy for a public official to act as a foreign agent."
Menéndez has consistently denied the accusations and stated that they are an attack by prosecutors:
Not content - or capable - of meeting those facts fairly at trial, the government has now falsely alleged a cover-up and obstruction ... The latest charge reveals far more about the government than it says about me ... It says that the prosecutors are afraid of the facts, scared to subject their charges to the fair-minded scrutiny of a jury, and unconstrained by any sense of justice or fair play. It says, once and for all, that they will stop at nothing in their zeal to get me.
According to the first accusation against Menéndez, who aspires to be re-elected this year in the Senate, he and his wife accepted cash, gold, a Mercedes Benz convertible and other high-value items in exchange for political favors to three businessmen and the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
