From The New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavernice, and this is The Daily.

In one of the most explosive political corruption cases in recent history, federal prosecutors

have accused a senior U.S. senator of trading the power of his position for cash, gifts,

and gold.

Today, my colleague Tracey Tully, on the lurid charges against Robert Menendez, his wife Nadine,

and an Egyptian-American businessman at the center of the scheme.

It's Tuesday, September 26th.

So Tracey, tell me about this corruption case against Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

You know, it came out at the end of last week, and I was reading the coverage over the weekend.

It just seemed to get bigger and bigger.

The details are just kind of unbelievable.

It's now Monday afternoon.

Tell me what we know.

So Senator Menendez, who's a Democrat, he's in his third term in the Senate,

but he's represented New Jersey in Congress for three decades.

He was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,

and he is now accused of taking bribes, which came in the form of a Mercedes convertible,

hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, and gold bullion bars.

In exchange for these gifts and bribes, according to the indictment,

he is accused of trying to help several business men in New Jersey,

and also a foreign government of Egypt.

Okay, so this is something we don't hear about in the Senate every day,

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