A US senator dealing with corruption costs says practically half 1,000,000 {dollars} in money which authorities found in his house was from his private financial savings – and never from bribes.
Democrat Bob Menendez additionally mentioned the $480,000 (£393,000) – allegedly discovered stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothes, closets and a secure at his house – was being saved available for emergencies.
“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,” mentioned the veteran New Jersey senator, who has been charged with bribery.
Federal brokers who carried out the search of his house in 2022 additionally discovered gold bars value greater than $100,000 (£82,000), prosecutors mentioned. Another $70,000 was found inside his spouse’s security deposit field, they mentioned.
Rejecting requires him to resign – together with from Senate majority chief Chuck Schumer – Menendez added in a information convention: “I recognise this would be the greatest battle but.
“But as I have stated throughout this whole process, I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be the New Jersey’s senior senator.”
Menendez, 69, made the speech at Hudson County Community College’s campus in Union City – the place he grew up.
It got here after he introduced his resolution to briefly step down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the fees.
He and his spouse, Nadine Menendez, are accused of accepting a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} in money, gold and a luxurious automotive from a trio of New Jersey businessmen in return for quite a lot of corrupt acts, based on an indictment, which was unsealed on Friday.
The indictment alleged Menendez used his clout to intervene in three felony circumstances, pressured US agriculture regulators to guard an affiliate’s enterprise pursuits, and used his place as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee to affect US coverage on Egypt.
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Prosecutors declare he met Egyptian navy and intelligence officers, handed on personal details about workers on the US embassy in Cairo and was the ghostwriter of a letter on behalf of Egypt asking his Senate colleagues to launch a maintain on $300m (£246m) value of assist.
Addressing his relationship with Egypt, he prompt he had been powerful on the nation over its detention of Americans and different “human rights abuses”.
“If you look at my actions related to Egypt during the period described in this indictment and throughout my whole career, my record is clear and consistent in holding Egypt accountable,” he mentioned.
Menendez and his spouse every face costs of conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit trustworthy providers fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion beneath color of official proper.
He denies any wrongdoing.
In an emailed assertion final week, he accused prosecutors of misrepresenting “the normal work of a congressional office” and mentioned he is not going to enable his work within the Senate to be distracted by “baseless allegations”.
A lawyer for his spouse mentioned she “denies any criminal conduct and will vigorously contest these charges in court”.
Source: information.sky.com”