Menendez pleads not guilty
In federal court, Judge William Walls agreed to release Menendez, but ordered him to surrender his personal passport. Menendez can keep his official passport, which he holds in his capacity as a U.S. senator. “For almost three years, the Department of Justice has pursued charges based on defamation by political opponents in an attempt to silence him,” Menendez said in brief remarks to reporters outside federal court. “Now that they have presented their case, we will finally have the opportunity to answer the case with the facts in court.”
Menendez, 61, was indicted Wednesday on 14 federal corruption charges, including bribery, conspiracy and “honest services” fraud. Federal prosecutors say Menendez took nearly $1 million in gifts and campaign contributions from Salomon Melgen, a wealthy Florida ophthalmologist. And the indictment alleges that Menendez used his Senate office in Melgen’s dealings with the federal government, including Medicare billing disputes and the immigration applications of the eye doctor’s girlfriends.
The senator and his legal team, as well as political allies, have been highly critical of the leak of the investigation to the news agency, which began weeks before the indictment was made official. His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said he had asked the Justice Department to investigate the leak. “I can only hope that they do so with the same energy and resources that they have devoted to investigating Senator Menendez,” Lowell told reporters.
A status conference is scheduled for April 22 in Newark. Walls tentatively scheduled Menendez’s arraignment for July 13.The passport issue was a point of contention between Menendez’s lawyers and federal prosecutors during the senator’s first court appearance, which lasted just under an hour.
Although lawyers for both sides agreed to allow him to be released, they disagreed on whether Menendez should be required to surrender his personal passport. Prosecutors conceded they could not revoke Menendez’s official passport, and Lowell argued his personal passport was not needed. But Peter Koski, a representative of the Justice Department’s Integrity Unit, argued that a defendant with an official passport “would be better for flying” than someone with just an ID. Wells ended up siding with the prosecution.
Melgen pleaded not guilty to all charges Wednesday and his bond was set at $1.5 million. Wells also ordered the grounding of Melgen’s private plane and the removal of firearms from his home, which were owned by Melgen’s collector son. Melgen, who also holds citizenship of the Dominican Republic, has already surrendered his passport and his travel is limited to the continental United States.
