Rep. Rob Menendez, a first-term Democratic congressman representing New Jersey’s eighth congressional district, introduced his re-election bid Monday, simply three days after his father, longtime Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s indictment on federal bribery and corruption costs was unsealed.
“I love this district and its people with every fiber of my being,” the youthful Menendez mentioned in an announcement. “I am focused on working every single day to represent my neighbors to the best of my ability. And I will be running for re-election based on that record, so I can continue to serve the residents of this district that I love, in stark contrast to those who may run to further their own naked political ambition.”
The freshman congressman, whose district consists of Hudson County, the place the Menendez household harnessed their energy in the beginning of his father’s political profession 50 years in the past, mentioned Friday that he had “unwavering confidence” in Sen. Menendez, and appears ahead to transferring previous “this distraction,” in keeping with the New Jersey Globe.
Rep. Menendez has stood by his father, regardless of various New Jersey Democrats, together with Gov. Phil Murphy and House members, demanding the long-time senator’s resignation.
SEN. BOB MENENDEZ MAKES ANNOUNCEMENT ON POLITICAL FUTURE, INSISTS HE’LL BE EXONERATED ON FEDERAL INDICTMENT
Rep. Rob Menendez, D-N.J., introduced his re-election bid three days after his father, Sen. Bob Menendez’s indictment on bribery costs was unsealed. (Getty Images)
At a information convention Monday, Sen. Menendez vowed he can be exonerated in his newest federal indictment, defended his political document on Egypt and claimed that the tons of of hundreds in money the FBI is alleged to have discovered at his and his spouse’s New Jersey house was withdrawn from his private saving account, which he mentioned he “kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba.”
“I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be New Jersey’s senior senator,” Sen. Menendez mentioned Monday, refusing to resign. “Remember, prosecutors get it wrong sometimes. Sadly, I know that.”
Rep.-elect Robert Menendez, D-N.J., speaks at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus occasion welcoming new Latino members at DNC headquarters on Nov. 18, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Hudson County is the place Sen. Menendez grew up and launched his political profession as a 20-year-old college board member. Mayor Ravi Bhalla of Hoboken – which is in Hudson County – mentioned he was weighing a possible major run in opposition to the youthful Menendez.
An proof photograph depicts Sen. Bob Menendez, Nadine Menendez and an Egyptian official throughout a gathering on the official’s personal house. (U.S. Attorney’s Office)
The information convention at Hudson County Community College in Union City, New Jersey, marked Sen. Menendez’s first public look since his federal indictment was unsealed within the Southern District of New York on Friday. It costs Menendez, his spouse, Nadine, and New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes in taking part in a years-long bribery scheme. Since 2018, as alleged by federal prosecutors, the three businessmen collectively paid tons of of hundreds of {dollars} of bribes, together with money, gold, a Mercedes-Benz, and different issues of worth in alternate for Menendez agreeing to make use of his energy and affect to guard and enrich them and to learn the federal government of Egypt.
DEMOCRAT ANNOUNCES BOB MENENDEZ PRIMARY CHALLENGE IN WAKE OF LONG-TIME SENATOR’S BRIBERY INDICTMENT
The indictment accuses Menendez of improperly pressuring an official on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to hunt to guard a enterprise monopoly granted to Hana by Egypt. The senator can also be accused of taking actions looking for to disrupt a legal investigation associated to Uribe and his associates.
Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, speaks throughout a press convention after asserting that Sen. Robert Menendez was indicted on corruption costs on Sept. 22, 2023, in New York City. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Federal prosecutors say Menendez beneficial that President Biden nominate a U.S. Attorney who the senator believed he might affect with respect to Daibes and sought to disrupt a federal legal prosecution of Daibes undertaken by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
In June 2022, the FBI executed a search warrant at Menendez’s New Jersey house the place federal brokers noticed what prosecutors say are most of the fruits of the alleged bribery scheme, together with money, gold, the luxurious convertible, and residential furnishings. Prosecutors say $480,000 in money, a lot of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothes, closets, and a protected, was found within the house, in addition to over $70,000 in money in Nadine’s protected deposit field. Some of the envelopes contained the fingerprints and/or DNA of Daibes or his driver, in keeping with the indictment.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Other envelopes have been discovered inside jackets bearing Menendez title and hanging in his closet. Prosecutors launched pictures exhibiting bars of the Egyptian gold, stacks of money and the Mercedes-Benz convertible discovered on the home. Menendez, who stepped down as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee final week, has reportedly since employed lawyer Abbe Lowell, who can also be defending Hunter Biden in opposition to gun costs amid the Justice Department’s years-long tax evasion probe.
