US Senator Menendez asks judge to dismiss charges, says he is immune

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) walks out of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Craig Hudson/File Photo

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Bob Menendez on Wednesday asked a judge to dismiss the government’s corruption case against him, saying the indictment targets official acts that should be immune from prosecution.

The New Jersey Democrat has pleaded not guilty to charges of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from businessmen to impede law enforcement probes they faced, and illegally acting as an agent of the Egyptian government, including military and intelligence officials.

“The government’s accusations in this case — that he sold his office and even sold out his nation — are outrageously false, and indeed distort reality,” Menendez’s lawyers wrote in papers filed in Manhattan federal court.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, which brought the charges, declined to comment. Prosecutors have until Feb. 5 to formally respond.

In charging the senator last September, prosecutors said investigators had found gold bars and envelopes stuffed with cash inside jackets in Menendez’s apartment.

They also said businessman Wael Hana had arranged meetings between Menendez and Egyptian officials, who pressed the senator to sign off on military aid.

In return, Hana put Menendez’s wife Nadine on the payroll of a company he controlled, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors filed a more sweeping indictment against Menendez last week, accusing him of helping a New Jersey businessman seek investment from a Qatari company with ties to the Middle Eastern country’s government.

Menendez has resisted calls to resign, including from fellow Democrats. He temporarily stepped down as chair of the Senate foreign relations committee after being charged in September.

In their motion to dismiss, Menendez’s lawyers argued to U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein that the charges improperly criminalized his ordinary legislative activities.

They argued the charges, if allowed to stand, would set a precedent for a future White House administration to prosecute “legislative enemies” who support Ukraine or Israel as agents of those countries.

“The court should not permit this novel and dangerous encroachment on legislative independence,” defense lawyers led by Adam Fee of the law firm Paul Hastings wrote.

Menendez’s lawyers also said cash that investigators found had been withdrawn from his bank account, and that the gold bars were “entirely unrelated to any actions on the part of the Senator.”

Nadine Menendez, Hana, and two other businessmen also charged in the case have also pleaded not guilty.

A trial for all defendants is scheduled for May 6.