Sen. Bob Menendez and wife indicted on bribery charges; DOJ seizes gold bars and $500,000

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

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4.1 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

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Summary

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife are facing corruption-related charges. An unsealed federal indictment reveals the New Jersey senator and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the senator’s influence. Prosecutors allege the bribes included cash, gold, mortgage payments and a Mercedes. Menendez says he will “not be distracted by baseless allegations” and he’s pushing back on calls for his resignation from some fellow Democrats. Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe tells AC360 he thinks the senator will have a hard time defending himself against this indictment because of the extraordinary detail prosecutors included. Plus, there’s a hurricane watch in effect for parts of eastern North Carolina ahead of Tropical Storm Ophelia’s landfall. CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers joins AC360 for an update on the storm that’s expected to trek up the East Coast.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Tonight on 360, just hours after his unprecedented second indictment with allegations of
0:07.9	gold bricks and piles of cash, a new call for New Jersey senior senator to step down.
0:13.5	New Jersey's governor, a fellow Democrat, now once Senator Bob Nendez gone.
0:19.0	Also tonight a remarkable new revelation from Cassidy Hutchinson about the danger she
0:22.7	says she was warned about after testifying before the House January 6th Committee.
0:27.9	So bad she says she literally could not go home and had to leave Washington.
0:33.4	Plus the very latest on Ophelia, now a huge tropical storm and heading for the East Coast
0:38.6	with hurricane watches already in force.
0:43.0	We begin tonight with breaking news.
0:44.8	Phil Murphy, New Jersey's Democratic governor, is now calling a new Jersey senior U.S.
0:49.2	Senator Bob Nendez to step down.
0:51.9	It is the latest blow after the latest indictment from Nendez, who chairs the powerful Senate
0:57.1	Foreign Relations Committee, and yes I did say latest indictment, because Senator
1:01.4	Mnendez has been federally indicted before.
1:04.1	The last time around the government failed to secure convictions.
1:07.3	The allegations this time are remarkable and came with pictures.
1:12.0	Authorities say the Senator traded his influence for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash,
1:16.6	gold bars, and a Mercedes convertible.
1:19.8	His wife is accused of working in the words of the indictment to introduce Egyptian intelligence
1:24.6	and military officials to Mnendez for the purpose of establishing and solidifying a corrupt
1:30.1	agreement, unquote, with an American Egyptian businessman.
1:34.4	Senator Mnendez today notified Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that he is stepping down from
	...

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