BREAKING: Sen. Robert Menendez found guilty on all counts in bribery trial

Sen. Menendez charged with receiving gifts from Qatar in new allegations in corruption scheme

Christie weighs in on new allegations in Bob Menendez corruption scheme

By Kara Scannell, CNN
4 minute read
Updated 9:26 PM EST, Tue January 2, 2024

CNN —

Federal prosecutors allege Sen. Bob Menendez accepted race car tickets and other gifts from Qatar as part of a yearslong corruption scheme, with the Gulf nation joining Egypt as another foreign country the New Jersey Democrat is accused of helping while in office.

Prosecutors allege in the superseding indictment that Menendez’s bribery and extortion scheme continued into 2023, a year longer than initially alleged. The new indictment, made public Tuesday, amends and replaces the original indictment, listing the formal charges against a defendant.

READ: Superseding indictment in Menendez corruption case

Among the new allegations, according to the indictment, is that Menendez accepted payments from one of his co-conspirators, New Jersey real estate developer Fred Daibes, in exchange for using his influence to help Daibes obtain millions of dollars from an investment fund tied to Qatar. The senator, prosecutors allege, additionally took steps to help Qatar.

Menendez, his wife Nadine Menendez, Daibes and two other New Jersey businessmen were indicted as part of a bribery scheme last year. All have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In addition to the bribery charges, Menendez is accused of acting as a foreign agent for the government of Egypt by allegedly taking steps to help the country in exchange for one of the defendants obtaining a monopoly on a Halal export business. Menendez has vigorously denied any wrongdoing.

Menendez’s attorney said in a statement Tuesday that “the government does not have the proof to back up any of the old or new allegations” but instead “a string of baseless assumptions and bizarre conjectures based on routine, lawful contacts between a Senator and his constituents or foreign officials.”

“At all times, Senator Menendez acted entirely appropriately with respect to Qatar, Egypt, and the many other countries he routinely interacts with,” Attorney Adam Fee said in the statement. “Those interactions were always based on his professional judgment as to the best interests of the United States because he is, and always has been, a patriot. This latest Indictment only exposes the lengths to which these hostile prosecutors will go to poison the public before a trial even begins. But these new allegations don’t change a thing, and their theories won’t survive the scrutiny of the court or a jury.”

The latest indictment alleges Menendez introduced Daibes, who was seeking an investment, to a member of the Qatari royal family and principal of the Qatari Investment Company. While the Qatari investment fund was weighing an investment, Menendez made multiple public statements supporting the government of Qatar, according to the indictment.

“Menendez provided Daibes with these statements so that Daibes could share them with the Qatari Investor and a Qatari government officials associated with the Qatari Investment Company,” prosecutors allege.

VIDEO

Prosecutor shows what agents discovered in Menendez’s home (2023)

In August 2021, the senator sent a press release in which he praised the Qatari government to Daibes, texting him, “You might want to send to them. I am just about to release,” the indictment alleges. The following month, after attending a private event hosted by the Qatari government in Manhattan, Daibes texted Menendez photographs of luxury watches valued as much as $23,990, asking, “How about one of these?” Two days later, Menendez texted Daibes a link to a website tracking a Senate resolution supporting Qatar.

Months later in January 2022, Menendez texted the Qatari investor ahead of his meeting with Daibes in London to discuss the potential investment, writing, “I understand my friend is going to visit with you on the 15th of the month. I hope that this will result in the favorable and mutually beneficial agreement that you have been both engaged in discussing,” according to the indictment.

In May, at the senator’s request, the Qatari official provided tickets to the 2022 Formula One Grand Prix to a close relative of Nadine Menendez.

That same month, following a meeting between the senator, Daibes, and the two Qatari officials, the Qatari investment fund signed a letter of intent to enter into a joint venture with Daibes’ company. After, Daibes provided Menendez with a gold bar, according to the indictment.

Last year, the Qatari Investment Company made it official and invested tens of millions of dollars with Daibes. Menendez continued to receive benefits from the Qataris, including four tickets to that year’s Formula One Grand Prix race, the indictment alleges.

Prosecutors say Menendez did not note on his financial disclosure forms the gifts from Qatar and Daibes, including the gold bars and race tickets.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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Prosecutors announce bribery charges against Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez

Aid Package For Ukraine Moves Slowly Through Congress

by David Welna
March 13, 2014 5:00 AM



Listen to Story
Morning Edition
5 min 3 sec




Democrats and Republicans generally agree that Congress needs to approve an aid package quickly. But it's proven harder than expected for everyone to agree on what should be in that aid package.


Copyright © 2014 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene.

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are agreeing on something these days, that Congress needs to approve an aid package quickly for the fledgling and nearly broke government now ruling Ukraine. But it's been harder than expected for the House and Senate to agree on what should or should not be in that aid package. The biggest sticking point: a change in the rules at the International Monetary Fund that the Obama administration considers critical for rescuing Ukraine.

Here's NPR's David Welna.

DAVID WELNA, BYLINE: For the Obama administration, the $1 billion in loan guarantees the House approved last week for Ukraine is simply not enough. Appearing before a House panel yesterday, Secretary of State John Kerry said stabilizing Ukraine financially requires ratification of a set of reforms for the International Monetary Fund that have languished over the past four years due to Congressional inaction.

SECRETARY JOHN KERRY: It's only through the IMF, a reformed IMF, that Ukraine is going to receive the additional help it needs in order to stand on its own two feet.

WELNA: Kerry's plea was, in fact, heeded by his former colleagues in the Senate. New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez, Kerry's successor as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, unveiled a bipartisan aid package for Ukraine that included loan guarantees, sanctions against those violating human rights in Ukraine or undermining its stability, and then one last provision.

SENATOR BOB MENENDEZ: It provides needed reforms to the United States' participation in the International Monetary Fund, which would allow the United States to leverage significant support from the IMF for Ukraine today, and for similar unforeseen crises in the future.

WELNA: Ranking Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee declared while he strongly supported including the IMF reforms in the aid package...

SENATOR BOB CORKER: This is going to be a little bit more difficult on our side of the aisle. I'll put it that way.

WELNA: Indeed, Kentucky Republican Rand Paul questioned whether it made sense to lend any money to Ukraine.

SENATOR RAND PAUL: I would ask for a show of hands of those would personally buy Ukrainian debt.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Ukrainian debt is rated triple C-, not one person in this room would buy it. There's no expectation they can pay it back.

WELNA: Paul said because Ukraine owes Russia so much money, any loan to Ukraine would just end up in Russia's coffers. But Arizona's John McCain, a fellow Republican, wasn't buying it.

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: This whole situation in Ukraine is extremely fragile, and I would think the worst thing that we could do right now is say that we aren't going to assist you.

WELNA: In the end, only three Republicans on the panel opposed the aid package, which is now headed for a vote by the full Senate. But even if it wins quick approval there, it would still have to be reconciled with the House-passed Ukraine aid package, which does not include the IMF reforms. House Speaker John Boehner yesterday showed no inclination of going along with the Senate's version.

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: This IMF money isn't necessary for dealing with this Ukraine crisis that we see today.

WELNA: Other House Republicans made it clear they had little use for the IMF anytime. Ted Yoho is a freshman from Florida, who's on the Foreign Affairs Committee. The IMF, he says, does not figure in the U.S. Constitution.

REPRESENTATIVE TED YOHO: Where does it say that we should have an International Monetary Fund that we should supply and support?

WELNA: So you would actually prefer that there not be U.S. participation in the IMF?

YOHO: When we're $17.4 trillion in debt and I've got people in my district that can't get health care or they can't send their kids to school, I think we need to look at that real carefully.

WELNA: Other House Republicans say the IMF reforms would diminish the clout of the United States by giving more of a voice to emerging nations, including Russia. But the refusal by Congress to ratify changes at the IMF has already reduced Washington's standing there, according IMF expert Scott Morris. He's a former Treasury Department official who's now at the Center for Global Development. He says House Republicans may, in fact, be strengthening Russia's hand at the IMF by refusing to approve reforms there.

SCOTT MORRIS: It's kind of a strange reaction to concerns about declining U.S. influence, is that you basically seek to hammer the nail in the coffin.

WELNA: Some House Republicans think a deal still is possible to get a Ukraine aid package soon. North Carolina's Patrick McHenry says if an unrelated provision sought by Republicans were added that blocks the IRS from cracking down on political non-profits, it just might pass the House.

REPRESENTATIVE PATRICK MCHENRY: Congress has done dumber and sillier things.

WELNA: But with Congress set to leave for a weeklong break, there's little chance of a Ukraine aid package emerging anytime soon. Ukraine's new prime minister, Arseny Yatseniuk, was at the Capitol last night meeting with congressional leaders, just days before Crimea is to vote on seceding from Ukraine to join Russia. With nothing concrete agreed upon yet about helping a struggling nation, a promised photo op of Yatseniuk with Speaker Boehner ended up getting canceled. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

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p.s.


Listen to the podcast and hear Senator Menendez speak of CRISISES.  

Where did this man get his PHD?  Guantanamo U, or perhaps, Jer-see City University?

What a maroon!

SENATOR BOB MENENDEZ: It provides needed reforms to the United States' participation in the International Monetary Fund, which would allow the United States to leverage significant support from the IMF for Ukraine today, and for similar unforeseen (CRISISES) crises in the future.

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Culture of Corruption

THE MAGAZINE



FEB 18, 2013, VOL. 18, NO. 22 • BY MATTHEW CONTINETTI



Caribbean-based company ICSSI had seen its lucrative contract to X-ray the cargo entering the Dominican Republic languish for years when, in 2011, it began searching for an investor with political pull. Perhaps someone with the right connections would be able to pressure the Dominicans into enforcing the contract, which was valued at somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion over 20 years. And that special someone, it seemed, was Salomon E. Melgen, a Dominican-born ophthalmologist and businessman in South Florida, who had acquired a reputation as a powerful and expansive donor to Democratic politicians de los Estados Unidos. Melgen bought a controlling stake in ICSSI. Maybe he could succeed where others had failed.

NEWSCOM

Last year, in the middle of the presidential election, Melgen’s medical practice donated some $700,000 to Majority PAC, a “super” political action committee founded by former staffers to Senate majority leader Harry Reid. As a super-PAC, Majority PAC is allowed under federal law to accept unlimited contributions for “independent expenditures” not coordinated with candidates or campaigns.

The particular expenditures Majority PAC was interested in making independently were on behalf of Democratic Senate candidates, including $582,000 in support of New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez, who was facing a rather inconsequential, don’t-worry-be-happy challenge from Republican state senator Joe Kyrillos. And who happened to be a longtime pal of Dr. Salomon E. Melgen. And who suddenly developed an active and vocal interest in contract law.

Wasn’t it a problem, Menendez asked during a July 31, 2012, hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, that Latin American and Caribbean nations were not fulfilling legally binding obligations? There was, for instance, one “company that has American investors that is seeking to—has a contract actually given to it by the—kind of ratified by the Dominican Congress—to do X-ray of all of the cargo that goes through the ports, which have been problematic and for which in the past narcotics have been included in those cargo. And they don’t want to live by that contract either.” So what was the United States government going to do about it?

Menendez raised similar concerns in conversations with State Department officials. What the U.S. government ended up doing about it, however, was probably not what he’d intended. For what the U.S. government, in the form of FBI and Department of Health and Human Services personnel, ended up doing was raiding the West Palm Beach offices of Dr. Melgen over the course of two days during the final week of January 2013. These federal personnel, according to reports, left with some 30 boxes of evidence. And that evidence would seem to pertain, also according to reports, to not one but two ongoing investigations. One involves allegations of Medicare fraud. The other involves allegations of public corruption.

This is bad news for Menendez. Melgen and his family, having contributed during the 2010 cycle more than $30,000 to Menendez, and more than $60,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Menendez chaired at the time, are some of the senator’s biggest donors. But Melgen is more than that. He also seems to have assumed an unofficial and unpaid position as Menendez’s travel agent, ferrying the New Jersey Democrat to and from exclusive properties in the Dominican Republic on his private jet.

We know, for example, of three trips the friends made to the Caribbean in 2010. And we know that, up until about, oh, a month ago, Menendez had disclosed payment for only one of them: $5,380 for a trip in May 2010. Reimbursement for the other trips, the senator told reporters last week, sort of “fell through the cracks.” After all, Bob Menendez is a very, very busy man. “I was in a big travel schedule in 2010.”

It took two years, and the filing of an ethics complaint, for Menendez to acknowledge the remaining trips. He did this by writing a personal check to Melgen for the hefty amount of $58,500, suggesting the eye doctor charges payday-loan levels of interest. The senator and his office argue that the reimbursement settles the question of whether the previous nondisclosure violated ethics rules. And they are all too happy to reject and denounce accusations that Menendez and Melgen hired prostitutes, which is legal in the Dominican Republic, on their foreign trips. You know how it is: What happens in Casa de Campo .  .  .

But these are dodges. The inquiry into Salomon Melgen and his relationship with Bob Menendez, it seems to us, is only just beginning. Last week brought news that a longtime aide to Menendez was due to be hired by one of Melgen’s companies. Melgen’s claim of association with Harvard and Yale has also come under question. The similarities to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, in which a Republican congressman and congressional aides went to prison for illegally accepting gifts and travel, are striking. With one critical difference: Throughout the Abramoff scandal, which contributed to the GOP’s loss of Congress in 2006, Democrats and their allies in the press denounced in blistering terms the “culture of corruption” of insidious relationships between lawmakers, staff, and influence peddlers in Washington.

So far, though, Republican officials have been rather silent on the Menendez issue. No need to be shy. Who will be the first to speak up? Who will be the first to call for an end to the culture of corruption in Harry Reid’s Senate?

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The Menendez - Melgen investigation continues

For an update on the widening Bob Menendez - Salomon Melgen Case; 

Here are a few brief healines:


Comeuppance for Menendez, Obama and Hagel

Washington Post (blog) - ‎48 minutes ago‎

And when Melgen needed help with a port security contract in the Dominican Republic last year, Menendez urged U.S. officials to press the country to carry out the multimillion-dollar agreement.” Democrats haven't yet thrown him overboard, but his days ...




Sen. Menendez: No Undue Influence on Behalf of Political Donor

ABC News - ‎15 minutes ago‎

Still, Menendez's close ties to Melgen have sparked scrutiny in recent weeks. The Senate ethics committee is investigating two free trips he took to Melgen's residence in the Dominican Republic in 2010. He recently paid Melgen $58,000 from his personal ...



Report cites more ties between Menendez, under-fire doctor

Philadelphia Inquirer (blog) - ‎1 hour ago‎

Robert Menendez twice spoke to federal health officials about a Medicare billing dispute involving his friend and donor Salomon Melgen, the Washington Post reported today, raising more questions about the ties between the Democratic senator and South ...



Menendez says he called gov't in way to help donor

Boston.com - ‎9 minutes ago‎

The senator called federal health officials in 2009 and met with them again in 2012, each time urging them to change what he called an unfair payment policy which had cost his friend Melgen $8.9 million, according to an official close to the investigation who ...



Sen. Menendez acknowledges he contacted US gov't amid billing fight with ...
Washington Post - ‎33 minutes ago‎

This was during a dispute between CMS and Salomon Melgen, a longtime friend and donor. The FBI searched Melgen's Florida offices last week. Menendez says, “The bottom line is, we raised concerns with CMS over policy and over ambiguities that are ...



Report: Menendez pressed officials over donor's federal audit

The Hill (blog) - ‎4 hours ago‎

Melgen, a close friend of Menendez's, reportedly overbilled the U.S. government by almost $9 million, inviting a federal audit. Menendez aides said that the senator contacted officials on two occasions to complain that the billing rules were unclear and that the ...



Cough: Menendez Repeatedly Intervened on Disgraced Donor's Behalf

Town Hall - ‎1 hour ago‎

Just for reference, Melgen donated $700,000 to Menendez and other Senate Democrats in 2012 alone. It gets better: Other Florida doctors have asserted that Melgen used his close relationship with Menendez to intimidate critics within his profession.



Senator Bob Menendez Is Under Investigation For Sordid Ethics Violations

Business Insider - ‎1 hour ago‎

US media reported that the FBI conducted a raid on Tuesday on the West Palm Beach offices of Salomon Melgen, a friend who has made financial contributions to the political campaigns of Democratic Senator Robert Menendez. The Miami Herald said ...



Where could Svetlana be?

The Star-Ledger - NJ.com (blog) - ‎14 hours ago‎

The original source of the scandal surrounding Melgen and New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, a tipster who goes by “Peter Williams,” first told ABC News' Rhonda Schwartz about this woman in early 2012. “Williams” identified her as “Svetlana B.” ...





Controversy surrounding Menendez deepens.

PolitickerNJ - ‎34 minutes ago‎

Melgen has donated heavily to Menendez and last year donated $700,000 to a Democratic PAC that spent more than $600,000 on Menendez's race against challenger Joe Kyrillos. Menendez had a two to one money advantage over Kyrillos in the race.




Sen. Menendez Suggested Feds Shouldn't Be So Hard on His Shady Doctor ...

New York Magazine - ‎5 hours ago‎

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez hasn't said much about the various allegations surrounding his relationship with donor/shady doctor friend Salomon Melgen — including claims that he solicited underage prostitutes, failed to disclose $60,000 in flights on ...



Capital Eye Opener, Feb. 7: Menendez Ties to Donor Deepen, Hutchison Joins ...

Center for Responsive Politics - ‎2 hours ago‎

As we reported last week, the donor, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen -- who's now under investigation by the FBI -- and his family have given more than $426,000 to federal candidates since 1992. The list of recipients includes Republicans and many ...



Senator Menendez sticks up for his benefactor against Medicare overbilling ...

Human Events - ‎3 hours ago‎

The rest of it went into luxuries such as a private jet – which Menendez suddenly remembered he owed Melgen $58,000 for using, just as conservative bloggers began digging into a story the mainstream media had studiously ignored throughout the election ...



Reports: Menendez intervened for Palm Beach donor doc in Medicare dispute

Palm Beach Post - ‎2 hours ago‎

North Palm Beach resident Melgen, his family and businesses have given more than $1.1 million to federal and state political candidates and committees over the past 20 years, with the bulk of the money going to Democrats. Menendez has been the largest ...



Robert Menendez Contacted Federal Officials In Medicare Dispute With Top ...

Huffington Post - ‎25 minutes ago‎

Robert Menendez Contacted Federal Officials In Medicare Dispute With Top Donor Salomon Melgen. The Washington Post | Posted: 02/07/2013 11:16 am EST.  Robert Menendez Medicare. The Washington Post reported ...



Menendez Went To Bat For Florida Eye Doctor In Medicare Dispute

TPM - ‎3 hours ago‎

Bob Menendez (D-NJ) reached out to top federal officials on behalf of Salomon Melgen after the Florida eye doctor was audited for overbilling the government, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. Menendez aides said Wednesday that the junior New ...



Menendez Waded Into Top Donor's Fraud Case

Newser - ‎1 hour ago‎

Robert Menendez twice tried to intervene on behalf of pal and major campaign donor Dr. Salomon Melgen in the optometrist's ongoing battle with Medicare over alleged fraud, the Washington Post and New York Times report. Melgen is accused of overbilling ...




Bob Menendez Sex Scandal Intensifies As FBI Shifts Focus to New Jersey

PolicyMic - ‎3 hours ago‎

According to the Daily Caller piece, the two women said they met Menendez around Easter at Casa de Campo, a 7,000-acre resort in the Dominican Republic owned by West Palm Beach, Fla. ophthalmologist Dr. Salomon Melgen. The women, who asked for ...



More on Melgen and Menendez

WJNO - ‎42 minutes ago‎

The lawmaker reached out to federal officials back in 2009 about the government's audit into Dr melgen. That audit found the doctor overbilled medicare by nearly $9 million. Menendez reportedly complained to the director overseeing medicare payments, ...



"Bob": A Corrupt Senator

Cubasi.cu - ‎16 minutes ago‎

A republican senator for Georgia, Johnny Isakson, declared that a few days back FBI agents raided one of Melgen's residences, located in West Palm Beach, under the suspicion of embezzling the health system for the elder, Medicare. The wealthy oculist has ...

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Menendez: $58,500 Cost of Trips ‘Fell Through the Cracks’

February 5, 2013

By Fred Lucas




Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)



(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), whose net worth if valued between $317,005 and $680,000, according to his 2011 financial disclosure form, told CNN he was not initially aware of the cost of two 2010 trips to the Dominican Republic, lasting a total of six days, valued at a combined $58,500.

“It unfortunately fell through the cracks that our processes didn't catch -- moving forward, and making sure that we paid,” Menendez told CNN. “When it came to my attention that payment had not taken place, I personally paid for them in order to meet my obligation.”





He later said, “Now, if it had come to my attention before, I would have in fact, done it before. When it came to my attention, I did what was right, and I paid for it myself.”

The near $60,000 that fell through the cracks that the senator later became aware of made up between eight percent and 18 percent of his total assets. Menendez ranks 79 out of 100 in the Senate net worth, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Menendez is facing scrutiny for having accepted two trips to the Dominican Republic aboard the private plane of wealthy campaign contributor Dr. Salomon E. Melgen, a Florida eye surgeon. On Jan. 4, Menendez reimbursed Melgen for the two flights in 2010.The Senate Ethics Committee in investigating whether Menendez acted inappropriately in not reporting the plane trips. Last week, the FBI raided the West Palm Beach office of Dr. Melgen.

At the time of the trips, Menendez was chairman of the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, which raises money for Democratic Senate candidates, from 2009-2011.

One of the flights in 2010 by Menendez aboard Melgen's plane was a campaign fundraising journey to the donor's residence in the Dominican Republic. That trip was reported to the Federal Election Commission.

However, Menendez categorized the other two trips as personal; one from Aug. 6-9, 2010, a round trip from South Florida to the Dominican Republic; another from Sept. 3-6, 2010, from New Jersey to the Dominican Republic and back.

Menendez press secretary Patricia Enright did not respond to CNSNews.com phone and e-mail inquiries on Monday and Tuesday.

Menendez spoke for the first time to a national audience on CNN Monday, when reporter Dana Bash asked him, “Senator, if you can explain why it took so long to pay back almost $60,000 in flights that you took with your friend?”

Menendez answered, “Well, I was in a big travel schedule in 2010 as the chair of the DSCC, plus my own campaign getting ready for a re-election cycle, and in the process of all of that, it unfortunately fell through the cracks that our processes didn't catch -- moving forward, and making sure that we paid. When it came to my attention that payment had not taken place, I personally paid for them in order to meet my obligation.”

Bash followed, “Because that's a lot of money, and as chair of the DSCC, you do so much traveling -- you know the rules. That's a pretty big chunk of money not to pay back.”

Menendez said, “Well, it's certainly the responsibility of myself, when it came to my attention to do so. Now, if it had come to my attention before, I would have in fact, done it before. When it came to my attention, I did what was right, and I paid for it myself.”

Bash followed up, “And you, of course, understand the perception that when you say it came to your attention, that you didn't pay for it until you got caught.”

Menendez responded, “Well, that's not the case. The bottom line is, when it came to my attention, I paid for it. There are a series of flights that were alleged. Several of them were shown not to be the case. But after the election, when I got to look at the allegations, and I did my own self-inspection, I ultimately came forward. As a matter of fact, one of those flights, I self-reported. It wasn't even anybody raised it.”

Menendez, the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was previously chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, which has jurisdiction over matters involving the Dominican Republic.

In 2010, Melgen bought the Caribbean-based ICSSI that had been awarded a contract to provide screening of cargo from ports in the Dominican Republic, the New York Times reported last week. However, the Dominican government was refusing to honor the contract, complaining that it was exorbitant.

Menendez chaired a subcommittee hearing on July 31, 2012, where he brought up the matter, without naming Melgen or the company.

“You have another company that has American investors that is seeking to -- has a contract actually given to it by the Dominican -- currently ratified by the Dominican congress to do its X-Ray of all of the cargo that goes to the ports, which have been problematic, and for which in the past, narcotics have been included in those cargo,” Menendez said at the July hearing, according to a Congressional Quarterly transcript of the hearing.

“And they don't want to live by that contract either. You have, you know, some of the other countries that I have mentioned today with arbitration awards that have gone against them, and yet, they don't want to live by that. Well, what are we willing to do?” he added.

The witnesses at the hearing were Francisco Sanchez, undersecretary for international trade with the Department of Commerce, Jodi Bond, vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Americas Division and Eric Farnsworth, vice president for Council of the Americas.

“Mr. Secretary, this might be more of your alleyway, but what are we willing to do with our directors at the IDB, IMF and other entities, because it just seems to me that if you do not send a message that you cannot, with impunity, go ahead and violate those agreements, trade agreements and arbitration awards which you agreed to as a process, and then still have us voting for you to get monies for a variety of purposes, then, you know what, if those countries can get away with that, they will?” Menendez said to Sanchez. “And that puts American companies at a tremendous disadvantage.”

Bash did not ask the senator about this on the air, but she said on CNN she asked him about it after the camera was off.

“As we were walking away, I also asked him about the allegations that he was trying to help his friend, Dr. Melgen, who is now somebody who is the owner of a potentially lucrative contract with the Dominican Republic, trying to help him to get that contract enforced,” Bash said. “And his answer was that he was just trying to do -- whatever he did was not because of a friend, but trying to do what was right for the policy of the United States with regard to his influence and position as then as a subcommittee chair overseeing that region “

According to Menendez’s 2011 financial disclosure form filed on May 9, 2012, he has rental property in Union City, N.J. valued at between $250,001 and $500,000; between $50,001 and $100,000 in a Congressional Federal Credit Union account; between $15,001 and $50,000 in Senate Federal Credit Union account; between $1,001 and $15,000 in Hudson City Savings Bank and Metropolitan Life Insurance stock valued between $1,001 and $15,000.

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The Bob Menendez ‘standard’

Last Updated: 10:49 PM, January 31, 2013
Posted: February 01, 2013


Bob Menendez is certainly raising new questions about what the Senate means by “foreign relations.”

As the New Jersey Democrat assumes the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he finds himself facing an FBI probe. Among the most serious allegations against him is that he engaged underage prostitutes during trips to the Dominican Republic paid for by a wealthy donor.

The bureau this week raided the offices of that donor, a Miami doctor who flew Menendez to a resort on his private jet for free, trips the senator failed to disclose until reporters discovered the truth.

AP
Bob Menendez

Menendez has now reimbursed the donor $58,500 for the flights, but his office denies reports that the 59-year-old senator has been traveling to the Caribbean to cavort with underage girls.

As officials sort out the charges and denials, it’s illuminating to look back at how Menedez responded in October, after US Secret Service officers doing advance work for a presidential visit to Colombia were caught bringing prostitutes to their rooms.

“If the facts are true, they should all be fired,” he said back then, though under Colombian law it’s not illegal to hire hookers.

“The reality is that the Secret Service . . . represent[s] the United States of America.”

He got that right. We don’t know yet whether Menendez is guilty. But if, in his words, “the facts turn out to be true,” surely the Mendendez standard ought to be applied to Bob Menendez, too.

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Complex portrait of doctor linked to Sen. Bob Menendez probe

Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2013






Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) in December 2009. | Olivier Douliery/MCT



Amy Sherman, Alfonso Chardy and Daniel Chang | The Miami Herald


MIAMI — By most appearances, Dr. Salomon Melgen embodies the great American immigrant success story: A native of the Dominican Republic, Melgen has earned renown as one of South Florida's leading eye surgeons. He owns a sprawling, waterfront home in North Palm Beach valued at about $3 million. He gives generously to charities and rubs elbows with prominent politicians.

"He's a man that loves the limelight. He always has," said Patricia Goodman, 70, a former office administrator and personal assistant to Melgen, who is now at the center of two FBI probes, one involving published allegations that he provided free trips to the Dominican Republic and prostitutes for U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat.

Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has called the allegations a politically motivated smear by a right-leaning website.

FBI agents raided Melgen's West Palm Beach office Tuesday night, apparently seeking records related to the second investigation, one involving possible Medicare fraud. The feds continued to search the premises on Wednesday, joined by agents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, suggesting that the raid was linked to Medicare.

Lawrence Duffy, a criminal defense attorney representing Melgen, said his client is unaware of the reason for the FBI raid.

"The government has not informed Dr. Melgen what its concerns are," Duffy said in an e-mail to The Miami Herald. "However, we are confident that Dr. Melgen has acted appropriately at all times."

Goodman said Melgen never hosted a fundraiser for Menendez during the time that she worked for the doctor from about 1989 to 1999. But she planned all of Melgen's parties during those years, and said he helped raise millions for political campaigns - and had a blast doing it.

"He liked the excitement of it," Goodman said on Wednesday from her home in Palm Harbor on Florida's Gulf Coast. "He liked being with the big shots. That was his thing. He was very impressed with the politicians."

The politicians were equally impressed with Melgen, 58.

Among the politicians whom Melgen has befriended, and for whom he has hosted private fundraisers at his 5,000-square-foot home: former U.S. Sens. Christopher Dodd and Bob Graham, late Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles - who also was a patient of Melgen's - former President Bill Clinton, and Leonel Fernandez, former president of the Dominican Republic.

Goodman noted that Bill and Hillary Clinton vacationed at the doctor's home in Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, and that he became good friends with Terry McAuliffe, former Democratic National Committee chairman and co-chair of Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign.

"He used to go to Dr. Melgen's home in Casa de Campo and play golf all the time," Goodman said of McAuliffe.

Behind Melgen's conspicuous success and powerful friendships, though, Goodman said, she also saw a man who behaved recklessly in his private life.

"There were things going on that I didn't like, not necessarily in the office," she said. "His personal life got to take a toll on me."

So much so, Goodman said, that she declined to return to work for Melgen in 1999 after she was diagnosed with cancer.

Melgen could not be reached at his home, office or on cell phones or by e-mail Wednesday, but his office issued a statement regarding Melgen's relationship with Menendez:

"Dr. Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of Senator Menendez for many years," the statement read. "Senator Menendez has traveled on Dr. Melgen's plane on three occasions, all of which have been paid for and reported appropriately. Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically-motivated, right-wing blog and are false."

Menendez, who was first accused of improprieties in the conservative Daily Caller website in November, has denied what he calls the "fallacious allegations." He has not yet directly addressed his relationship with Melgen.

Interviews with Melgen's former employees and acquaintances paint a picture of an exceedingly generous man who struggled to adapt as an immigrant and succeeded wildly in his medical career and in various business ventures, including founding a Latino-themed digital media outlet, VOXXI.com, which is based in Coral Gables.

He donated $15,000 at a recent fundraiser for experimental research into a rare muscular-degenerative disease that afflicts the 2-year-old son of Art Estopinan, the chief of staff of Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen, a Florida Republican..

"He is an angel. I consider him to be an angel," said Estopinan, his voice breaking into sobs. "This is the only hope my son has."

Goodman said Melgen "has got a really big heart for people. We used to see thousands of people that had no insurance, just write it off. He did that. He would never turn anybody away if they didn't have the money."

A woman who holds a high-level position at the Dominican Healthcare Association of Florida, which gave Melgen its lifetime honorary member award in April 2012, said she was surprised about the allegations.

"I was shocked," she said, adding that she always regarded Melgen as a professional totally devoted to his work.

"I see him as a great professional of great trust whose patients hold in high regard," the woman said. The woman remembered that when Melgen accepted the award at a gala dinner at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables he talked about the difficulties he had adjusting to the United States as an immigrant.

No one has a specific date when Melgen immigrated to the United States, but the woman at the Dominican Healthcare Association said it was possible he arrived in the late 1970s.

Melgen graduated in 1978 from the Pedro Henriquez Urena National University in Santo Domingo, and by 1980 was doing an internship at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut.

He found professional and financial success in South Florida, where he says he was the first physician to perform out-patient eye surgery in 1986.

But Palm Beach court records show Melgen also has faced financial problems - including multiple IRS liens for millions of dollars.

One lawsuit hints at complications in his personal life. Melgen's company, Vitreo-Retinal Consultants, sued Yuddehiris Dorrejo in 2000 amid a business dispute that involved a close relationship with Melgen.

Online records available immediately at the Palm Beach Courthouse Wednesday did not contain the full case file, but a four-page order by Palm Beach Circuit Court Judge John Wessel dismissing the case in March 2002 summarized the details of the legal dispute.

In October 1998 Dorrejo came to Florida and met Melgen at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Palm Beach County.

"Thereafter, an intimate romantic relationship developed," the judge wrote.

Then Dorrejo entered into an oral agreement with Vitreo-Retinal Consultants, which was owned and controlled by Melgen.

Melgen's company had agreed to make a $700,000 loan for Dorrejo's interest in a franchise retail store in the Dominican Republic.

Melgen acknowledged it was his idea to set up an account with Northern Trust Bank in Palm Beach County because his company had a relationship with that bank.

"Melgen claims that such a large sum of money would not be deposited by a normal person as a gift for a romantic relationship," the judge wrote.

But Dorrejo claimed that she was not a resident of Florida and doesn't engage in business in Florida and that "the consideration for the money deposited in Northern Trust Bank was the intimate romantic relationship between Dorrejo and Melgen," the judge wrote.

Dorrejo told the court that she had not breached any contract and that, "The money bestowed upon her by her lover, Melgen, was without any obligation for repayment" wrote the judge, who granted Dorrejo's motion to dismiss it.

Dorrejo, who could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, also reported that Melgen owns property in the Dominican Republic and advertises medical services there.

The doctor cuts an impressive figure on the Caribbean island.

In 2009, Melgen's son was married at Santo Domingo's historic cathedral, the oldest in the Americas, in a ceremony blessed by Dominican Catholic Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez. The wedding was covered by Dominican newspapers, which published photos of the well-heeled guests.

In May 2010 - a date that corresponds with allegations of alcohol- and prostitute-fueled parties at Melgen's Casa de Campo house - Melgen hosted a dinner honoring Menendez in which he said, "For me, Mr. Menendez is not the leader of the Hispanic-American in the United States, but a leader of Hispanics in all the Americas."

(Staff writers Marc Caputo, Carli Teproff and Jay Weaver contributed to this report. Herald special correspondent Ezra Fieser reported from the Dominican Republic.)


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Bob Menendez and Marco Rubio? Marco Rubio, Bob Menendez?

All of the sudden as 2013 kicks into gear two Cuban American Senators Bob Menendez and Marco Rubio have taken the spotlight. Why?

Last week, these same men headlined at Hillary R. Clinton's Benghazi Attack Hearings; This week they are front and center at the Immigration Reform Plan. Why?

It's a Jersey City-Miami thing? Is it a Northeast-South Florida phenomenon?

These two out of 100 are best suited for this job?

Why are they so prominent? So Prolific?

Somehow I feel a star is being created; someone  is being groomed, catapulted to the top.

Philadelphia Inquirer (blog)  Marco Rubio, Bob Menendez Launch into Espanol at Press ... Marco Rubio, Bob Menendez Launch into Espanol at Press Conference ... Menendez and Rubio apparently caught cable news networks and ... Senators: Immigration reform to come by summer ... Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, one of the proposal's architects. Another co-sponsor, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, said ”This ... Hillary Clinton Testifies on Benghazi, Robert Menendez and Marco ... Two Latinos played prominent roles in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Wednesday in which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... What Menendez, Rubio said about Clinton's testimony on Benghazi ... VOXXI-by Griselda Nevarez-Jan 23, 2013 Among them were senators Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). During her testimony, Clinton defended the actions she and ... lllllllllllllllllllllll~~~~~~~~~~~~~~lllllllllllllllllllllll Last week: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John F. Kerry (D) Massachusetts Ranking Member Bob Corker (R) Tennessee Majority Barbara Boxer (D) California Robert Menendez (D) New Jersey Benjamin L. Cardin (D) Maryland Robert P. Casey Jr (D) Pennsylvania Jeanne Shaheen (D) New Hampshire Christopher Coons (D) Delaware Tom Udall (D) New Mexico Chris Murphy (D) Connecticut Tim Kaine (D) Virginia Minority James E. Risch (R) Idaho Marco Rubio (R) Florida Ron Johnson (R) Wisconsin Jeff Flake (R) Arizona John McCain (R) Arizona John Barrasso (R) Wyoming Rand Paul (R) Kentucky This week: The Immigration Overhaul Group: The plan was backed by Republicans McCain, Marco Rubio of Florida, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona; and Democrats Schumer, Richard Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Michael Bennet of Colorado. ON ANOTHER NOTE: BTW, the same Senate Foreign Relations Committee of which John F. Kerry is the Chairman, will vote today for his confirmation as U. S. Secretary of State. A sure [Neighborly] thing... NDTV Senate Foreign Relations Committee to vote on Kerry nomination Tuesday NOLA.com ‎- 1 hour ago WASHINGTON -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday on President Barack Obama's nomination of Sen. .......

Dems face internal revolt over Obama agenda

J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., are seen on Capitol Hill on Feb. 6 discussing efforts by Senate Democrats to pass the economic stimulus bill in the face of strong GOP opposition.

Dems face internal revolt over Obama agenda

Solidarity of stimulus debate fades as lawmakers read fine print of bills

By Shailagh Murray
updated 2 hours, 1 minute ago

View related photos

Democratic leaders in Congress did not expect much Republican support as they pressed President Obama's ambitious legislative agenda. But the pushback they are receiving from some of their own has come as an unwelcome surprise.

As the Senate inches closer to approving a $410 billion spending bill, the internal revolt has served as a warning to party leaders pursuing Obama's far-reaching plans for health-care, energy and education reform.

Those goals, spelled out in Obama's 2010 budget blueprint, continue to enjoy broad Democratic support. But as the ideas develop into detailed legislation, they will transform from abstract objectives into a tangle of difficult trade-offs. Crop subsidies, the student loan program and Medicare radiology rules are all currently niche concerns, but any one could become the next crisis for party leaders, with the potential to derail a major agenda item. One major proposal, to limit itemized deductions for wealthy taxpayers, has already raised doubts among prominent Democrats in both chambers.

Some issues that inflamed Democrats in previous years have yet to even register, including the proposal in Obama's budget plan to "means-test" the Medicare drug benefit as a way to pay for health-care reform. Doling out entitlement benefits based on income has long been anathema to most Democrats.

'Waiting in the wings'
"There are a lot of items in the budget that would normally get a lot more attention, if we were in a normal year," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who heads the House Democrats' fundraising arm. "They've been eclipsed by the tidal wave of the economy." But Van Hollen added: "They are waiting in the wings."

Democrats rejected four GOP amendments to the omnibus spending bill last night, and they will face more today. The additional amendments are the price that Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) was forced to pay Thursday night after he sought to bring an end to debate on the bill and came up one vote short. Several Republicans whose support Reid had anticipated did not deliver, but the most costly defection was that of Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), a member of the Democratic leadership, in protest of a little-noticed Cuba provision that would ease U.S. rules on travel and imports to the communist-led island.

The Menendez rebellion was a jolt of political reality for Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Obama, signaling that the solidarity of the stimulus debate is fading as Democratic lawmakers are starting to read the fine print of the bills they will wrestle with in the coming weeks and months, and not always liking what they see.

Reid had been focused on fending off a bloc of conservative Republicans who were seeking to eliminate more than 8,500 pet projects in the bill, many of them inserted by GOP lawmakers. Democratic leaders were hearing some internal grumblings, but those concerns focused largely on the bill's hefty overall price tag.

Minority view
Menendez knew that his hard-line approach to Cuba was a minority view within his party, and that it was at odds with Obama's approach. But he did not expect to discover a significant policy change embedded in the text on an appropriations bill. His policy aides came across the language when the legislation was posted on a congressional Web site.

"The process by which these changes have been forced upon this body is so deeply offensive to me, and so deeply undemocratic, that it puts the omnibus appropriations package in jeopardy, in spite of all the other tremendously important funding that this bill would provide," the enraged son of Cuban immigrants said last week on the Senate floor. Menendez even slapped a hold on a pair of Obama nominees to draw attention to the issue.

Treasury officials, working with Reid's office, continued yesterday to search for an administrative resolution with Menendez that would ensure a narrow interpretation of the legislative language in order to prevent gaping loopholes from developing. Menendez has pointed out that, had the bill sought significant changes in U.S. policy toward Iran or Venezuela, lawmakers would revolt. "What's the difference with Cuba?" said Menendez spokesman Afshin Mohamadi.

By allowing Republicans to offer a total of 11 amendments last night and today, Reid was hopeful that GOP support for the bill would grow and he would not need his New Jersey colleague's vote when the bill comes to a final vote, which is expected today.

Already, a pair of provisions in Obama's budget have attracted determined, if limited, Democratic opposition. One proposal would overhaul the federal student loan program to guarantee yearly increases in the Pell Grant program. That idea enjoys broad Democratic support. But to pay for the Pell Grant expansion, Obama would end federal support for private lending. And one of the major corporate providers of student loans is NelNet, a company based in Lincoln, Neb., the home state of Sen. Ben Nelson, a moderate Democrat who balked at the stimulus package and teamed up with three moderate Republicans to cut $100 billion from the final bill. Cutting off support for NelNet would cost Nebraska about 1,000 jobs, according to Nelson's office. Nelson said the move could hurt middle-class students who do not qualify for Pell Grants. "I don't support anything that could reduce those benefits," Nelson said.

Nelson is also one of several Democrats who have objected to changes Obama has proposed in the farm subsidy system. By stopping direct payments to farms with annual sales of more than $500,000, the White House expects to save about $10 billion over 10 years. But along with Nelson, another Democratic opponent of Obama's annual-sales model is Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (N.D.).

Similar revolts are building against tax changes Obama has proposed, including one to limit deductions that many Democrats privately consider to be a non-starter. Climate-change legislation is months away from emerging, but some Democrats already worry about the political consequences of creating a cap-and-trade system that could result in higher utility bills. Some House Democrats have floated the issue of tariffs on foreign companies — potentially an explosive trade issue —to equalize the cost of a carbon cap.

Obama's proposal for Medicare means testing has received surprisingly little attention so far, beyond plaudits from Republicans who have supported the idea for years. The debate over an income scale was especially heated when Congress created the Medicare drug benefit, known as Part D, during President George W. Bush's first term. As a senator, Obama voted against a Medicare means-testing proposal in March 2007.

But times have changed, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who also voted no two years ago. The growing consensus among Democrats that health-care costs must be contained, and that coverage must be expanded to everyone, has redrawn the battle lines. "In the past, we've dealt with Part D on its own, and that tends to be polarizing. So the thought here is, that's much less likely if people think we're all in this together," Baucus said.

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29609567

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