Senator Bob Menendez’s messy home was filled with gold bars and wads of cash stuffed into Timberland boots and his bed, new images reveal.
Images of $100, $50 and $20 bills strewn throughout the New Jersey Democrat’s neglected home were shown to jurors during his ongoing criminal trial in Manhattan. The photographs were taken during the FBI raid on Menendez’s residence in June 2022.
Both he and his wife Nadine are accused of a bribery scheme that included gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash payments and a luxurious Mercedes-Benz convertible.
He is accused of using his influence as then-powerful chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee to benefit a handful of businessmen and the Egyptian government.
Menendez, Nadine and two New Jersey businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, pleaded not guilty.
Photographs of wads of $100, $50 and $20 bills scattered throughout the New Jersey Democrat’s home were shown to jurors during his ongoing criminal trial in Manhattan.
Last week, Menendez’s legal team criticized Nadine, saying she was storing gold bars in the couple’s home without the lawmaker’s knowledge.
Her defense strategy came to light even though Nadine announced that she has breast cancer.
The Democrat’s lawyer, Avi Weitzman, stated during opening statements that the “gold bars were found in a locked closet” and that they were not the legislator’s but “it is Nadine’s closet.”
He then took a photo of the closet and highlighted how it was filled with Nadine’s clothes.
“The senator didn’t know the gold bars were there,” Weitzman told the jury.
However, federal prosecutors claim that Menendez was directly involved in the bribery scheme.
‘This case is about a public official who put greed first. Who put his power up for sale,’ federal prosecutor Lara Pomerantz said on Wednesday.
“This was not the usual policy. “This was politics for profit.”
‘He was powerful. He was also corrupt. And what was the price of it? Gold bars,” Pomerantz said.
He even stuffed money into a Timberland boot found in his home.
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) arrives at the federal courthouse on May 21
Senator Bob Menéndez’s house was full of gold bars and wads of bills
Wads of bills were found throughout Menéndez’s house
The images were taken by the FBI during its June 2022 raid on Menendez’s home.
Documents were discovered with cash stuffed between them.
“The scheme filled his pockets, filled his wife’s pockets and fueled his greed.”
“Menendez abused his positions to feed his own greed and keep his wife happy,” the federal prosecutor said.
Pomerantz even claimed that Menendez sent his wife to handle communications in the bribery scheme.
“He used Nadine as his intermediary to deliver messages to and from people who paid bribes.”
Judge Sidney H. Stein, who is presiding over the case, told potential jurors that prominent lawmakers, former White House officials and even a man considered Trump’s vice presidential candidate could be called to testify in the high court. -Profile of the corruption case.
More cash in increments of $20 bills were thrown all over the house
More photos taken of what appears to be a safe.
The jury was shown exhibits of all the cash found around the Menendez residence.
The list of potential witnesses provided by Stein included: Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Lindsey Graham, R.S.C., Tim Scott, R.S.C., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Tim Kaine, D. Virginia, Chris Coons, D-Delaware, Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, Kristen Sinema, I-Ariz., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
It also includes former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Treasury Secretary. Steve Mnuchin, former senior advisor to President Obama David Axelrod and Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y.
The list of potential witnesses particularly mentions Scott, who is rumored to be a leading candidate for Donald Trump’s running mate in 2024.
It also lists two of the former president’s closest advisers: Mnuchin and Pompeo.