The latest charges against Sen. Bob Menendez are the second set of corruption charges levied against him by the Justice Department in a decade.
The New Jersey Democratic senator was charged by federal prosecutors from the US attorney’s office in New Jersey in 2015 with conspiracy, bribery, and honest services fraud relating to allegedly abusing the power of his office.
Prosecutors said the senator accepted more than $600,000 in political contributions, a luxurious hotel suite at the Park Hyatt in Paris, and free rides on a private jet from a wealthy ophthalmologist, Dr. Salomon Melgen, in exchange for political favors.
The corruption trial of Menendez ended in a mistrial in November 2017 after the jury reported it was deadlocked. Both men denied all of the charges. Following the mistrial, a federal judge acquitted them of several of the charges in 2018. The Justice Department dropped the remaining charges against Menendez.
Melgen was convicted on dozens of counts of health care fraud and sentenced to 17 years in a separate case, but his sentence was commuted by then-President Donald Trump in 2021.
After his mistrial was announced in 2017, a defiant Menendez issued a warning at a news conference.
“To those who were digging my political grave so that they could jump into my seat, I know who you are, and I won’t forget you,” he said at the time.