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Judge Declines to Throw Out Menendez Bribery Charges
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News
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| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Oct 16, 2017 06:07pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Pete Williams and Brian Thompson |
| News Date | Monday, October 16, 2017 06:30:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | WASHINGTON — A federal judge Monday declined to throw out federal bribery charges against Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, leaving the Justice Department's case intact against one of the Senate's senior Democrats in the middle of a jury trial.
U.S. District Court Judge William Walls said the evidence presented by federal prosecutors during the past month in Newark, N.J., appeared to meet the legal test for proving bribery under federal law.
Defense lawyers will now begin presenting their case.
"The jury will decide what happened," Walls said. "That's why we're going to the jury."
Menendez is accused of illegally accepting favors for years from a Florida eye doctor, Salomon Melgen.
Among the favors, prosecutors said, were a dozen flights on a private jet to stay in Melgen's cloistered resort in the Dominican Republic, three nights at a five-star hotel in Paris, and more than $700,000 in political contributions for Menendez and the Democratic Party.
In return, the government said, Menendez helped get visas for Melgen's girlfriends, aided a Melgen-owned company with a contract worth millions for port security in the Dominican Republic, and leaned on federal regulators after Melgen was accused of overbilling Medicare for nearly $9 million. |
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