Robert
Menendez, the senior senator from New Jersey, will face corruption allegations
according to reports. The senator is alleged to have used his position to help
the businesses of a friend.
Deutsche Welle, 7 Mar 2015
The US
Justice Department is preparing criminal corruption charges against Democratic
Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, American media reported on Friday.
Citing anonymous sources briefed on the case, the report reveals that the
charges center on allegations that Menendez used his office to promote the
business interests of a donor in exchange for gifts.
Responding
to the allegations reported by CNN, Senator Menendez's office denied any
wrongdoing: "As we have said before, we believe all of the senator's
actions have been appropriate and lawful," read the statement from Tricia
Enright, Menendez's communications director.
In March
2013, when Menendez was the influential head of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, where he is still the top Democrat today, The Washington Post
reported he was under investigation by a Miami grand jury.
According
to CNN, the corruption charges are related to an investigation involving a
Florida doctor who is a close friend of Menendez and who has donated large sums
of money to the senator's campaigns. Salomon Melgen, a prominent
ophthalmologist, is reported to have businesses in the Dominican Republic, and
Menendez is alleged to have intervened on his behalf from his congressional
office.
Tricia
Enright countered the accusation by saying Melgen was one of the senator's
"closest friends for decades" and that "many false allegations
have been made about this manner - allegations that were ultimately publicly
discredited." Robert
McDonnell
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