On Friday, a New Jersey businessman testified in Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal corruption trial, stating that he gave the disgraced Democrat’s wife a Mercedes-Benz in exchange for the shutdown of a criminal probe.
Businessman Jose Uribe told the Federal District Court in Manhattan that Nadine Menendez “agreed to the terms,” after he offered to buy her a $60,000 luxury Mercedes-Benz C-300 in March 2019.
In return, Uribe would gain “the power and influence” of Menendez “to do anything possible to stop and kill” a probe into two of his business associates by the state Attorney General’s office.
In March, 57-year-old Uribe pleaded guilty to seven charges, including wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and tax evasion. Meanwhile, Menendez, his co-defendant, has repeatedly denied the charges against him.
“I knew that giving a car in return for influencing a United States senator to stop a criminal investigation was wrong,” Uribe told the court in March. “I deeply regret my actions.”
Uribe is now the government’s star witness in the corruption case against the Menendezes. Both the senator and his wife are accused of accepting the car, $150,000 in gold bars, $566,000 in cash payments, and several other gifts in exchange for favors to Uribe, as well as businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, and the governments of Egypt and Qatar, per the New York Post.
On Friday, Uribe testified that he had conspired with Hana to pay off Menendez, in order to prevent an investigation into the business of Elvis Parra, who ran a trucking company. Additionally, Uribe’s own insurance business insured Parra’s trucks and would have also been subject to an investigation.
Former New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal testified that Menendez had attempted to pressure him to discuss the investigation with him in 2019, but that he had refused to disclose information about the case with the senator, telling him, “I can’t talk to you about this,” per the New York Post.
Grewal testified that Menendez never made a “specific ask” to kill the investigation, but “the impression I got was that he did not like the way it was being handled.”
Menendez has repeatedly denied his involvement in any corruption scheme. However, amid the accusations, he opted not to seek reelection in the Democratic primary for his Senate seat, suggesting that he may run as an independent candidate if exonerated.
“The present accusations I am facing, of which I am innocent and will prove so, will not allow me to have that type of dialogue and debate with political opponents that have already made it the cornerstone of their campaign,” Menendez said in a video message in March. “New Jerseyans deserve better than that. You deserve to hear from those who wish to represent you about what they would do for you and your families in the future.”
“Therefore, I will not file for the Democratic primary this June,” Menendez continued. “I am hopeful that my exoneration will take place this summer and allow me to pursue my candidacy as an independent Democrat in the general election.”
Menendez has faced calls to resign from many congress members, including some within his own party, as the weight of the evidence against him continues to pile up. “He won’t be around much longer. That would be my bet,” said Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), per CNN. “We should have chucked that sleazeball long ago. But now we’re looking to move my resolution to the floor and I’m going to call on unanimous consent … so we can stop any senator that is being accused of being a foreign agent attending classified briefings.”
The post NJ Businessman Testifies That He Bribed Disgraced Democrat Senator Bob Menendez With Mercedes-Benz appeared first on Resist the Mainstream.
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Author: John Symank
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