Judge bars Sen. Menendez from talking with some of his Senate staffers unless he has a lawyer present
US Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey appeared in court Wednesday on criminal charges.
Prosecutors allege he accepted cash and gold bricks from businessmen to help the Egyptian government.
A judge limited his contact with Senate staffers as the case goes on.
US Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey was released on a $100,000 bond Wednesday following his first court appearance on charges accusing him of accepting numerous bribes.
According to prosecutors, the Democratic senators took bribes in the form of gold bars, cash, and a Mercedes-Benz, among other treats, in exchange for making foreign policy decisions that benefited the government of Egypt.
Appearing defiant with a slight smile, Menendez strode into the Manhattan federal courthouse alongside his wife, Nadine Menendez, who prosecutors allege also accepted the bribes.
On the sidewalk, protesters called for his resignation from the US Senate. Photographers captured one holding a "RESIGN" sign behind his head.
Three other co-defendants in the case, Egyptian-American businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes, had scheduled appearances in the courthouse Wednesday as well.
All five defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
At the hearing, US Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang detailed Menendez's bond conditions. The senator is forbidden from talking to Senate staffers or political advisors with knowledge of the case unless one of his lawyers is present.
The Senator also isn't allowed to contact potential witnesses without a lawyer present or to talk to any co-defendants except for his wife.
Nadine Menendez was released on a $250,000 bond and her travel was restricted to parts of New York, New Jersey, Washington, DC, and Florida, where she has family. Wang barred Sen. Menendez from traveling internationally, except as part of his Senate duties and with prior notice.
The court appearance comes amid growing calls from colleagues asking for Menendez to resign from the Senate, where he has already relinquished his role leading the foreign relations committee. As of Wednesday morning, 30 Democratic senators have publicly called for his resignation, including Cory Booker, the other US senator representing New Jersey.
Zero Republican senators have called for Menendez's resignation. (Former President Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race, has four pending criminal cases against him.)
Gold bars and a Benz
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan allege that, in about 2019, the businessmen gave Menendez and his wife cash, gold, mortgage payments, a Mercedes-Benz, an air purifier, and other bribes. In exchange, according to the indictment unsealed last week, prosecutors allege that Menendez used his powerful perch on the Senate's foreign relations committee to approve billions of dollars in arms sales to Egypt and help shape an international construction project in a way that Egypt preferred.
In one example recounted in the indictment, prosecutors allege Menendez texted his wife to tell Hana, one of the businessmen, that he was "going to sign off this sale to Egypt today. Egypt: 46,000 120MM Target Practice Rounds and 10,000 Rounds Tank Ammunition: $99 million."
Nadine Menendez then forwarded the text to Hana, who forwarded it to an Egyptian government official, the indictment says.
"Egyptian Official-1 replied with a 'thumbs up' emoji," prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
Prosecutors also allege that Menendez interfered in a criminal prosecution of another person linked to the businessmen and helped a halal certification agency owned by one of them to obtain a monopoly on Egyptian goods sold in New Jersey.
Menendez has denied the criminal charges, saying prosecutors "misrepresented the normal work of a Congressional office."
Prosecutors in New Jersey previously accused Menendez of bribery in a separate case. When he went to trial on those charges in 2017, the jury failed to convict him, and the charges were dropped.
This story has been updated.
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