Defiant Sen. Bob Menendez claims he hid cash ‘because of Cuban history’ (he was born in NY)
Sen. Bob Menendez on Monday denounced efforts to prosecute him on federal bribery charges, saying he kept the piles of cash that federal agents found at his home and that allegedly link him to the crimes — because he is the son of Cuban immigrants.
“For 30 years, I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account, which I have kept for emergencies, and because of th𒁃e history of 💟my family facing confiscation in Cuba,” Menendez (D-NJ), 69, said at a press conference in his hometown of Union City.
“Now this may seem old-fashioned, but these were❀ monies drawn from my personal savings account based on the income that I have lawfully derived over those 30 years.”
Menendez ducked out immediately after he made remarks in English and Spanish, ignoring shouted questions from the approximately 50 reporters in the room. He did not explain how more than $100,000 worth of gold bars came to be in h🐲is Englewood Cliffs home in addition t🐠o the greenbacks.
The senator was born in New York City on New Year’s Day 1954, months after his parents left the Caribbean island dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who himself was overthrown on Menendez’s fifth birthday by Fidel Castro.
The twice-indicted senator was hit with three counts of accepting $486,461 in cash bribes, as well as at least 13 ingots and a Mercedes-Benz convertible, according to a Manhattan federal indictment unsealed ♒Friꦏday.
The money, which was found “stuffed in envelopes” 𒁃and “hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe,” was allegedly taken “to protect and to enrich” three wealthy New Jersey businessmen and “to benefit the government of Egypt,” the indictment states.
If convictꦚed o🐟n all counts, Menendez faces up to 45 years in prison.
At least two Senate Democrats — John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Sherrod Brown of Ohio — have called on Menendez to resign, while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) have stopped short of asking him to leave office.
Menendez agreed to step down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Schumer announced in a sܫtatement on Friday.
The🧔 Garden Sta🍨te Democrat was indicted in 2015 for allegedly taking improper gifts from a Florida eye surgeon, but that prosecution ended in a hung jury two years later.
What we know about Bob Menendez's case
New Jersey Sen. Bo🅰b Menendez was found guilty of federal corruption charges related to an alleged years-long scheme.
Menendez accepted bribes, including gold bars, in exchange for helping three businessmen, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, as well as Egypt and Qatar, ac🌄cording to a fed🤡eral jury.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine, were charged with taking hundreds of thousandsജ in bribes, according to the Manhattan federal indictment. Their cases were separated, and hers has been indefinitely delayed because she is being treated for breast cancer.
When the feds raided the Menendezes’ Englewood Cliffs home in June 2022, they found a 2019 Mercedes C-Class, at least 13 gold bars, and $5💝66,000 in cash “stuffed in envelopes.” Another $70,000 in cash was found in Nadine’s ▨safe deposit box.
The feds say Menendez aꦓlso received mortgage payments and paid for a low-show or no-show job and home furnishings.
This isn’t the first time the Democrat faced federal corruption charges. In 2015, Menendez was accused of taking gifts from Florida eye surgeon Salomon Melgen.
The “gifts” included a Paris vacation, flights on a private jet, and vacations at Melgen’s villa in the Dominican Republic.
That case ended in a mistrial.
“The allegations leveled against me are just that — allegations,” Me✨nendez told reporters on Monday at Hudson County Community College. “For anyone who has known me throughout my 50 years of public service, they know I have always fought for what is right.”
“My advocacy has always been grounded in what I learned from growing up as a son of Cuban refugees, especially my mom, my hero, Eva🦹ngelina Menendez,” he went on. “Everything I’ve accomplished I’ve worked for, despite the naysayers and everyone who has undere𝐆stimated me.”
“I recognize this will be the biggest figh👍t yet. But as I have stated throughout this whole process, I firmly believe that when a🦂ll the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be New Jersey’s senior senator.”
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest updates in the Menendez indictment.
Menendez was indicted alongside his wife, Nadine, over what prosecutors called a “corrupt relationship” he had from 2018 to 2022 with businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred 𝓡Daibes, and the nation of Egypt, according to federal prosecuꦗtors.
Federal agents raided the senator’s Englewooওd Cliffs home in June 2022 and found “the fruits” of that “corrupt bribery agreement” — and also discovered Menendez made questionable internet searches for a “kilo of gold price.”
His wife als🃏o stashed $70,000 𒁏in cash in a safe deposit box.
Menendez has further been accused of meddling in a separate criminal case involving Daibes by u🥀rging President Biden to pick Philip Sellinger as the US att﷽orney for New Jersey to oversee that prosecution, prosecutors say.
Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams said at a press conference on Friday that Menendez had also used his “power and influence” on the Senate Foreign ♉Relations Committee to “aid the government of Egypt.”
The actions contradict Menendez’s pledge as a member of Congress — stated clearly on his Senate website — that “he cannot compel an agency to act in someone’s favor,” “cannot influence matters involving a private business” and “cannot get involved in criminal matters, or cases, period,” Williams said.
“But we allege behind the scenes, Senator Menendez was doing those things for certain peopl▨e, the people who were bribing him and his wife,” Williams added, before saying that the federal probe was🍨 “very much ongoing.”
Menendez at his Monday presser urged others to presume his innocence until he is proven guilty, saying the indictment was “based on a limited set of facts 🥃framed b﷽y the prosecution to be as salacious as possible.”
“Remember, prosecutors get it wrong s♓ometimes,” he also said at his press conference. “Sadly, I know that instead of waiting for all the facts to be presented, others have rushed to judgment because they see a political opportunity for themselves or those ♏around them.
“All I humbly ask for in this moment, from my colleagues in Congress and those I have worked with for years, as well as each person who calls New Jersey home, is to pause and allow all the facts to be presented.”
