New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez on Thursday pleaded not guilty to multiple corruption charges including bribery.
Menendez’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, issued the following statement:
“As we have seen in so many cases—from former HUD Secretary Mike Espy’s in 1999 to former Senator Ted Steven’s in 2007 to former Senator John Edwards two years ago—prosecutors in the Justice Department often get it wrong. These charges are the latest mistakes.
This investigation started with false and salacious allegations made by political and other opponents of Senator Menendez; it was fueled by heavy-handed actions of agents pressuring witnesses; and then it had more than its fair share of improper leaks to the press. I have asked the Justice Department to investigate this misconduct and I can only hope they do so with as much vigor and as many resources they have used against Senator Menendez.
Prosecutors get to write the indictment they want, after a secret, one-sided presentation in a Grand Jury. But they do not get those advantages now. Now, they have to make good on those charges. Now they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a 20 year friendship between Senator Menendez and Dr. Melgen was something else. And now, they have to prove that the consistent and proper policies and actions Senator Menendez took were for a corrupt purpose and not to protect the security of Americans after 2001, and the safe and efficient workings of the health care system.
And—because there was a real friendship and not a corrupt relationship, and because Senator Menendez's actions were proper, this case too will become another of those mistaken cases that should not have been brought.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel of the FBI’s Newark Division put a different spin on matters, in a Justice Department statement.
“The job of an elected official is to serve the people,” Frankel said. “The citizens of New Jersey have the right to demand honest, unbiased service and representation from their elected officials at all levels of government. The charges and activity alleged in this indictment are another example of the FBI's commitment to aggressively and tenaciously pursue public corruption in the state of New Jersey.”
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