Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey returned Monday to the acquainted territory of Hudson County, N.J., a Democratic bastion the place he rose to political prominence, to publicly deal with the corruption fees that now threaten his occupation and his freedom.
Standing by myself at a lectern, accused of bribery for the second one time in a decade, he indicated that he had no aim of bowing to the refrain of voices calling for his resignation.
The allegations, he mentioned, had been framed via prosecutors to “be as salacious as possible.”
“I recognize that this will be the biggest fight yet,” Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, mentioned as heavy rain beat in opposition to the home windows of a group school no longer a long way from the place he grew up in Union City, the kid of Cuban immigrants.
But he mentioned he anticipated that after the judicial procedure concluded, “not only will I be exonerated, I will still be New Jersey’s senior senator.”
Speaking first in English after which in Spanish, Mr. Menendez, 69, reiterated a lot of the message he presented in an instant after the three-count indictment used to be introduced on Friday. He prompt persistence “to allow all the facts to be presented.”
He used to be no longer joined via members of the family or any of his maximum stalwart political allies as he confronted a financial institution of tv cameras and a standing-room-only crowd of newshounds. Behind him, in opposition to a wall, had been more or less two dozen other people he referred to as “everyday people and constituents who know me.”
Mr. Menendez left with out answering questions shouted via newshounds concerning the presents, together with gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz, that prosecutors say he gained as bribe bills.
He did, then again, try to be offering a justification for the $550,000 in money investigators discovered all over June 2022 searches of a protected deposit field and his house in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., a lot of it stashed in clothes and closets or filled into envelopes. Some of the envelopes containing the money had the fingerprints of a businessman charged within the scheme; one envelope additionally had Mr. Menendez’s fingerprints, in step with the indictment.
Mr. Menendez mentioned that it were his dependancy to withdraw money from his financial savings accounts to stay at house, an inclination he mentioned used to be rooted in his oldsters’ revel in in Cuba.
“This may seem old-fashioned,” he mentioned, including, “I look forward to addressing other issues at trial.”
It used to be the primary time he had seemed publicly since federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed a 39-page indictment that accused him and his spouse, Nadine Menendez, of accepting masses of hundreds of bucks in bribes in alternate for wielding his political affect to learn the federal government of Egypt and trade friends in New Jersey.
The indictment depicted a far-reaching internet of political corruption involving assist and guns gross sales to Egypt and efforts via Mr. Menendez to steer state and federal prosecutors to head simple on his friends in 3 prison instances.
Mr. Menendez and the others accused within the bribery conspiracy — his spouse and 3 New Jersey businessmen — are anticipated to look Wednesday in federal courtroom in Manhattan to answer the costs.
He stepped down Friday as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, as required via regulations the Senate Democrats followed to control themselves.
Ms. Menendez, 56, who has been married to the senator for 3 years, didn’t attend the news convention.
One longtime good friend, Joseph Panepinto, a New Jersey developer, mentioned Mr. Menendez’s place of work referred to as to invite him to wait the development. He mentioned he sought after to be there to strengthen his good friend of 40 years.
“I see he has a problem,” Mr. Panepinto mentioned. “I hope he’s innocent. If he’s proven guilty, he’ll pay the price.”
“What happened? I don’t know,” he added. “I have no idea. I’m wondering why he has so much cash in his house, but that’s his business.”
New Jersey’s governor, Philip D. Murphy, a detailed best friend of Mr. Menendez, referred to as for the senator’s resignation hours after the costs had been introduced, unleashing a torrent of equivalent messages from Democratic leaders around the state.
In Washington, then again, the response amongst Democrats has been extra muted; via overdue Monday, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, a detailed good friend of Mr. Menendez’s, nonetheless had taken no public place at the fees defined within the indictment.
At the White House, President Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, mentioned that the verdict about whether or not Mr. Menendez must step down used to be “going to be up to him and the Senate leadership.”
Representative Andy Kim, a third-term Democrat from South Jersey, mentioned Saturday that he would problem Mr. Menendez in subsequent 12 months’s number one, and he wasted no time in setting up a campaign committee.
“New Jersey deserves better,” Mr. Kim mentioned Monday on X, the social media platform previously referred to as Twitter. “Menendez just had a press conference doubling down on his refusal to resign. Then we have to beat him in the primary election.”
The reaction from New Jersey Democrats used to be a marked departure from 2017, when maximum Democratic leaders stood solidly at Mr. Menendez’s aspect whilst he stood trial in federal courtroom on fees that he had taken bribes from a rich physician in alternate for political favors.
The jury may no longer succeed in a unanimous choice, and the Justice Department declined to retry Mr. Menendez after a pass judgement on pushed aside probably the most critical fees.
At Monday’s news convention, Mr. Menendez alluded to his earlier case. “Remember, prosecutors get it wrong sometimes,” he mentioned. “Sadly, I know that.”
Still, Republicans mentioned that Mr. Menendez’s criminal issues would solely bolster their effort to win over citizens in November, when lawmakers are working for re-election within the State Assembly and Senate.
“It’s a real problem for Democrats that he’s not going away quietly,” mentioned Alexandra Wilkes, a spokeswoman for the state Republican Party.
“If you’re the Democrats, this is not what you want to have be the top story on every single news station, every single night.”
Elise Young and Katie Rogers contributed reporting.