New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez may soon be facing criminal charges from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) following a lengthy investigation. The investigation, which started back in 2018, involves allegations that the Democrat senator or his Nadine Arslanian had received gifts in exchange for political favors.
It also looks into a lucrative contract between an NJ businessman and Egyptian officials regarding the certification of halal meat exports.
News site Semafor offered additional details of the first federal probe into Menendez:
Menendez and a Florida eye doctor, Salomon Melgen, were indicted in 2015 for an alleged arrangement under which the doctor provided flights on a private jet and lavish vacations in exchange for the senator’s help with government contracts and other public favors. Menendez’s lawyers argued that the two men were simply good friends. The inquiry ended in a mistrial in 2017 after the jury failed to reach a verdict. (Melgen was convicted in 2017 of medicare fraud, and received clemency from President Donald Trump in 2021.)
The two people familiar with the investigation, one who is directly connected to the investigation and the other a New Jersey lawyer who has been told of the case, said that the broad outlines of the new inquiry are similar to the 2017 case. Both said that the new investigation involves an entirely different group of people, however.
According to Semafor correspondent Kadia Goba, federal prosecutors have been in contact with people connected to Menendez in recent weeks and at least one subpoena was issued.
Michael Soliman, a spokesman from Menendez’s office has commented on the situation by saying that while Sen. Menendez is aware of the investigation, he does not know its scope yet and will provide any assistance requested if necessary.
Furthermore, it appears that these new developments could be an indication of special divisions within the Justice Department as charges against him were initially brought by the Public Integrity Section back in 2015 after a U.S Attorney based out of New Jersey handed off the case.
It’s worth noting that public corruption cases often present unique obstacles when trying to reach a verdict due to the 2016 Supreme Court decision which overturned ex-Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s conviction under similar circumstances where explicit evidence had to be found linking gifts or donations to official actions in order for there to be any legal implications.
As such, this ruling could potentially play an important role when determining whether or not criminal charges should be filed against Menendez given its already long standing history with this type of case having gone before prosecutors previously without successful conclusions being reached.
