Senator Robert Menendez, 61, indicted on corruption charges, accused federal prosecutors on Monday of misconduct that included allowing an FBI agent to give false testimony, saying the Justice Department would "stop at nothing" to convict him.
These allegations are part of more than 400 pages of legal arguments filed to try to persuade the court to dismiss the case against Menendez and his longtime friend and donor, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen. Melgen is accused of buying favors from the senator with gifts and vacations.
Mendendez has risen from a childhood in a tenement apartment, a son of Cuban immigrants to become one of the country's most influential senators. The hawkish former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman is backed by a legal defense fund that has raised $3 million, largely from wealthy pro-Israel advocates who see him as an ally in opposing a nuclear deal with Iran, reports The Washington Post.
Menendez, a member of the Senate since 2006 and a congressman for more than 20 years, is charged with 14 counts in the indictment, including accepting gifts and donations totaling about $1 million from ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen in exchange for political favors. Menendez's lawyers argue that the government failed to provide sufficient evidence in the indictment to support a number of the charges, including the bribery allegations against him. The defense team also claimed prosecutors "advanced salacious allegations of sexual misconduct" while they "intimidated" witnesses and members of the Menendez family, according to US News.
A Justice Department spokesman said Monday that the government will review the filings and respond with its own filing next month. "Generally, the government likes to speak through the court and not through the press," spokesman Peter Carr said. "We will file a response at the appropriate time with the court," according to NBC Philadelphia.
