Top Dem Committee Accepted Thousands of Dollars From Menendez Same Day Feds Unsealed Bribery Charges
A top Democrat committee accepted thousands of dollars from New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez‘s PAC on the same day federal investigators revealed his bribery charges to the public, filings reviewed by Fox News Digital show.
On the morning of Sept. 22, federal investigators unsealed the charges against Menendez, who chaired the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife, Nadine Menendez. The charges included accusations that he benefited from the Egyptian government and engaged in a corrupt scheme alongside Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer, Wael Hana, who runs a halal meat certification business in the state, and businessman Jose Uribe.
That same day, Menendez’s New Millennium PAC wired a $15,000 contribution to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s (DSCC) recount account, filings show. The DSCC is the primary group that works to elect and sustain Democrats in Congress’s upper chamber.
His Sept. 22 contribution to the DSCC is the first known donation to any committee made on the same day or after his charges became public.
It does not appear the DSCC returned the money as of the end of September. The committee previously received $30,000 from Menendez in recent years but has remained mum on those contributions.
The indictment led to a flurry of Democrats calling for his resignation from the Senate. It also led to other politicians announcing they would part ways with the money Menendez sent to their committees, including Pennsylvania Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman and Montana Sen. Jon Tester. Some announced they would return the donations, while others said they would give it to charity.
Three Democrats – Fetterman, Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester and New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman – sent contribution refunds to Menendez’s PAC in late September.
Menendez, meanwhile, has maintained his innocence and believes he will be fully exonerated and remain in Congress.