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U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, listens as he waits to address a gathering Monday, March 23, 2015, in Garwood, N.J. Menendez listened to questions about the possible filing of corruption charges against him.(Photo: (AP Photo, Mel Evans))
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors charged Sen. Robert Menendez and a wealthy donor Wednesday in connection with a bribery scheme in which New Jersey's senior senator allegedly used his office to benefit the donor, Dr. Salomon Melgen, in exchange for gifts, the Justice Department announced.
Menendez, 61, and Melgen, 61, of West Palm Beach, Fla., were each indicted on eight counts of bribery, one count of violating the travel act, and three counts of honest services fraud.
Menendez was also charged with one count of making false statements, Justice spokesman Peter Carr confirmed.
Menendez will address the charges during a 7 p.m. EST press conference in Newark, N.J.
The government had been investigating whether Menendez and his staff illegally advocated for the business interests of Melgen, a Florida eye doctor, in return for gifts.
The investigation had focused on evidence Menendez intervened on Melgen's behalf in a 2012 billing dispute between Melgen and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and urged authorities in the Dominican Republic to make good on a port security contract with a company owned by Melgen.
Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has denied any wrongdoing and appears ready to fight the accusations.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said at a March 6 press conference amid news reports that he would face charges.
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One of his lawyers, Abbe Lowell, is a leading white-collar defense attorney whose high-profile clients have included former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Democratic senators John Edwards of North Carolina and Robert Torricelli of New Jersey.
Ross Baker, a Rutgers University political science professor, described Menendez as "incredibly tenacious and ... unwilling to concede to his detractors or accusers anything at all."
This Jan. 31, 2010, file image from Miami Dade College shows Dr. Salomon Melgen.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Phil Roche, AP)
"Whenever these things have come up, he's gone on the offensive, managed to blunt or discredit the accusations or simply ride out the storm," Baker said.
Menendez is the 12th senator indicted while in office, according to the Senate historical office. He is the first to be charged with crimes since Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska in 2008. Stevens' conviction was dismissed in 2009 because of prosecutorial misconduct.
The FBI began investigating Menendez in 2012 after receiving information — later debunked — that he had engaged the services of prostitutes while vacationing at Melgen's Dominican Republic home.
Melgen and his company have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Menendez and other Democratic senators. He also provided Menendez with free airplane flights to the Dominican Republic in 2010.
In January 2013, Menendez paid $58,500 of his own money to reimburse Melgen for two flights. Menendez said he didn't pay for or report the flights earlier because of an oversight. A year later, he reimbursed Melgen $11,250 for a third flight.
A watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), filed a complaint with the Justice Department in 2012 seeking an investigation into Menendez's conduct.
"We don't let bank robbers just return money and say, 'Oh, I got caught. No harm, no foul,'" said Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director at the time.
Menendez, 61, says he and Melgen have been friends for more than two decades and have celebrated holidays together and given each other birthday, wedding and other presents, "just as friends do."
"Let me be very clear: I have always conducted myself appropriately and in accordance with the law," Menendez said at the March 6 news conference.
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Menendez established a legal fund last year to fight the federal investigation and a probe by the Senate Ethics Committee. Records show the fund spent $762,576.96 last year.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez has been a vocal critic of the Obama administration's efforts to normalize relations with the Castro regime, saying the president struck a "bad deal for the Cuban people."
He also accused administration officials of using talking points "straight out of Tehran" in their negotiations with Iran over the country's nuclear program.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a 2016 presidential candidate, suggested the government's case against Menendez is politically motivated.
"It raises the suggestion to other Democrats that if you dare part from the Obama White House, that criminal prosecutions will be used potentially as a political weapon against you as well," Cruz told reporters last month.
Sen. Robert Menendez speaks to reporters during a news conference on March 6, 2015, in Newark.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: John Minchillo, AP)
Early in his career, Menendez was on the other side of a corruption investigation. In the 1970s, he quit a job working for the Union City, N.J., mayor and later testified against the mayor while wearing a bulletproof vest for protection.
Menendez, who grew up in a tenement in Union City, served as the city's mayor and as a state legislator before winning election in 1992 to the U.S. House representing New Jersey's 13th District.
He served in the House for 13 years before he was appointed in January 2006 to replace Democrat Jon Corzine in the Senate. Corzine made the appointment himself after resigning from the Senate to become governor of New Jersey.
Menendez won election to the Senate seat in November 2006.
He chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee between 2009 and 2011, outraising the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the difficult 2010 cycle. Democrats lost six Senate seats that cycle but kept control of the chamber.
Menendez easily won re-election in 2012, taking nearly 59% of the vote. He chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2013 to January 2015 before becoming the committee's top-ranking Democrat.
Contributing: Catalina Camia, USA TODAY
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