With now-former Representative George Santos ousted from Congress, we have one less corrupt politician to worry about. But as evidence suggests, he’s far from the last.
Enter Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
If you’ve heard much about Menendez of late, it’s probably that he is being indicted on bribery charges and being an agent of Egypt.
And recent documentation seems to prove the former, if not the latter, as well.
The indictment, which began in September, has resulted in a search of the Menendez home. In it, a number of gold bars were found. And four of them seem to have the exact same serial numbers of gold bars linked to an armed robbery case.
The case comes from 2013 when New Jersey businessman Fred Daibes reported an armed robbery. According to police records, 22 gold bars were taken from Daibes. Eventually, four people were arrested for the crime, and all gold bars returned to Daibes.
We know they were returned because, as with nearly all items of such value, they were stamped with individual serial numbers. As Daibes told investigators at the time, “Each gold bar has its own serial number. They’re all stamped… You’ll never see two stamped the same way.”
And now, four of those same gold bars have ended up in the hands of a sitting US Senator.
This, as well as other evidence, point to Menendez being guilty of bribery, namely to “protect and enrich” Daibes and two other men, as well as “benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt,” according to the indictment.
NBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos says that it doesn’t necessarily prove bribery, but it certainly doesn’t look good.
Throughout Menendez’s relationship with Daibes and the other men, he and his wife have ended up with gold bars, hundreds of thousands in unexplained cash, a luxury vehicle, and other things. Following those “gifts” were official actions taken by the senator that benefited Daibes, the other two men, or Egypt.
Of course, Menendez is still claiming his innocence. We’ll see how that stands up in court.
