US Senator Bob Menendez, wife charged with bribery worth millions of dollars

US Senator Bob Menendez has been charged with federal bribery and will have a bribery indictment released later on Friday, as per the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York.

According to a tweet from the office, Menendez and his wife Nadine are facing bribery charges after allegedly having a "corrupt relationship" with three businessmen from New Jersey.

The indictment, which Politico broke first, claims that Menendez and his wife agreed to and accepted "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in bribes in exchange for using his "power and influence as a senator" to benefit Egypt and the three businessmen Wael "Will" Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibe.

The indictment states that the bribes consisted of "cash, gold, payments towards a home mortgage, compensation for a low- or no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value."

Federal corruption charges against the New Jersey senator were also brought against him in 2015, but they were later dismissed in 2018 when the jury was deadlocked, The Hill reported.

Menendez is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, a position he vacated during his prior indictment. The New Jersey senator refuted all accusations in May.

“I am sure it is going to end up in absolutely nothing,” he said.