Feds Seek To Dismiss Charges Against U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez may have beaten the criminal corruption and bribery charges that threatened to derail his career. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal court in Newark to drop an indictment against the senior senator from New Jersey, a man once described as the “Boss of Hudson County.”

Menendez, a veteran Democrat lawmaker, was accused of offering a friend political favors in exchange for lavish gifts and campaign contributions.

“From the very beginning, I never wavered in my innocence and my belief that justice would prevail," Menendez said Wednesday. "I am grateful that the Department of Justice has taken the time to reevaluate its case and come to the appropriate conclusion."

Menendez thanked God for "hearing his prayers" and giving him strength during a difficult time.

"I have devoted my life to serving the people of New Jersey, and am forever thankful for all who have stood by me," the senator said. "No matter the challenges ahead, I will never stop fighting for New Jersey and the values we share.”

Chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee John Currie said that Menendez was a "dedicated and diligent public servant" for the state.

"I admire his strength and determination, and his ability to weather the slings and arrows that were directed at him over the last few years," Currie said.

Last week, the judge presiding over his trial acquitted Menendez for some of the largest bribery charges he faced, stating that there was no evidence that co-defendant and Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen gave the senator $660,000 in campaign contributions as part of an allegedly corrupt bargain.

However, the judge left several charges intact, including three counts of bribery related to flights Menendez allegedly took on Melgen's private plane, and a Paris hotel suite Melgen paid for with American Express points, NorthJersey.com reported.

Menendez still faced two counts of honest services fraud, one count of conspiracy, one count of interstate travel to carry out bribery and one count of making false statements on his congressional financial disclosures to conceal the crimes.

• See related article: Sen. Menendez Acquitted Of Some Charges Ahead Of Retrial

Just days before Walls' decision, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a one-paragraph notice of intent in federal court to retry the case, two months after the first trial ended in a mistrial with a deadlocked jury. But on Wednesday, the DOJ filed to dismiss its remaining charges, apparently bringing the case against Menendez to an end.

"Given the impact of the court's Jan. 24 order on the charges and the evidence admissible in a retrial, the United States has determined that it will not retry the defendants on the remaining charges," DOJ spokeswoman Nicole Navas Oxman told CNN.

Menendez's case - which has been slogging through the courts since 2015 - represented a rare event in recent U.S. history: a sitting senator facing felony charges.

Menendez, identified as a Paramus resident in a Department of Justice statement, was indicted in April 2015 on charges of conspiracy, violating the travel act, bribery, honest services fraud and making false statements. According to prosecutors, Menendez allegedly conspired with Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist, to use the power of his senate office to influence the outcome of ongoing contractual and Medicare billing disputes worth tens of millions of dollars to Melgen. In addition, Menendez allegedly supported the visa applications of several of Melgen's girlfriends.

In exchange, Menendez allegedly received almost $1 million worth of lavish gifts and campaign contributions, prosecutors charged.

• See related article: Menendez Indicted On Corruption Charges
• See related article: Senator's Alleged Wrongdoings Run Gamut of Illegal Activity

The list of alleged gifts included flights on Melgen's private jet, numerous vacations at Melgen's Caribbean villa in the Dominican Republic and a hotel room in Paris, $40,000 in contributions to his legal defense fund and more than $750,000 in campaign contributions.

Prosecutors had charged that Menendez never disclosed any of the reportable gifts that he received from Melgen on his legally required financial disclosure forms.

Following his indictment in 2015, Menendez proclaimed that he was "angry, ready to fight and not going anywhere." Menendez's legal team asserted that Melgen's generosity was simply his way of sharing his wealth with a close friend.

"The Justice Department doesn't know the difference between corruption and friendship," Menendez said at the time. "I will be vindicated."

In April, a federal jury in South Florida convicted Melgen of 67 criminal counts of fraud in a separate case that also involved Medicare.

Menendez is up for reelection in 2018, and the trial has already taken a toll on his popularity among voters, some polls say. In April of 2017, a Morning Consult Governor Approval ranking said that at 40 percent, Menendez had the third-lowest approval rating of any U.S. senator in the country.

According to a recent Suffolk University poll conducted for the USA Today network, 84 percent of the respondents said that the senator should resign if convicted.

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