'Gold Bar Bob' Menendez faces Jersey music in new federal corruption trial | Stile

Once again, Sen. Bob Menendez is on trial on a raft of stranger-than-fiction accusations that he enriched himself, in collaboration with his wife, Nadine, as an under-the-table fixer for the Egyptian and Qatari governments.

And the sweeping case against him also includes charges that he meddled with state and federal investigations on behalf of a developer and a businessman.

The indictments, a sequel of sorts to the 2017 corruption case that ended in a hung jury, has all the trappings of a limited Netflix series. It's easy to envision a promotional clip for such a production — showing federal agents storming the Menendezes' Englewood Cliffs home to find bars of gold bullion and cash stuffed in boots, a safe and a windbreaker embroidered with the insignia of the U.S. Senate. Menendez has said he is innocent of all the charges.

The case will bring focus to the growing push by foreign countries to peddle influence in Washington by enlisting members of Congress. The federal indictment last week of Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and his wife on charges of taking $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani state-run oil and gas company and a bank in Mexico will only ratchet up attention on the shadowy frontier of foreign influence.

A very Jersey flavor

But Menendez's trial, which is expected to last six to seven weeks, will also have a distinctly Jersey focus.

Prosecutors, for example, allege that he tried to pressure top officials in the state Attorney General’s Office to “resolve more favorably” the prosecution of two associates of Jose Uribe, a trucking and business executive.

In exchange, Uribe allegedly rewarded Menendez and his wife, Nadine, with a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz coupe. Uribe, who was originally named as a defendant in the Menendez indictment, has since pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government. He is also listed as a potential witness in the trial.

Federal prosecutors say the state officials contacted by Menendez did not intercede in the case or tell the team prosecuting Uribe’s associates about Menendez's alleged efforts.

Still, federal authorities noted that the Uribe associate ended up pleading guilty in a deal that included no prison time, an outcome “that was more favorable ... than the prosecutor’s initial plea offer in the case.”

The disclosure of Menendez’s alleged influence peddling prompted calls last September for a legislative investigation, and New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, who called the allegations “deeply disturbing,” announced that he was conducting an internal probe of the matter.

Yet Platkin has said little about the internal review. Asked last week about its status, Platkin said, in a statement, “At the time of the indictment we made it clear that our office would continue to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and we announced that our office would conduct an independent internal inquiry into the concerns raised in the indictment. That review is ongoing in a manner that will not conflict with the actions of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

Gurbir Grewal, who was the state attorney general at the time, and Andrew Bruck, then Grewal's deputy and now an official at the U.S. Justice Department, are among the people who may be called to testify or whose names may be mentioned during testimony in the trial.

Menendez is also facing charges that he received bribes from Edgewater developer Fred Daibes in exchange for seeking a new United States attorney for New Jersey who might be “sympathetic” to Daibes, who was facing federal fraud charges.

Charlie Stile: Has 'Gold Bar Bob' really 'always been a patriot'? Don't buy it

What about the U.S. attorney? And the bill to protect the Palisades?

That’s not the only allegation of Menendez's influence peddling on the Jersey homefront.

The indictment lays out his efforts to identify a U.S. attorney candidate to refer to incoming President Joe Biden in 2021. Menendez approached attorney Philip Sellinger, a past contributor to his campaigns, but Sellinger noted that, if selected, he might have to recuse himself from the Daibes case, according to the indictment. Menendez went looking for another candidate.

Eventually, though, Sellinger’s name came back into play after another choice failed to work out, and after, as the indictment says, a Menendez “adviser” urged the senator to contact Sellinger again, telling him "you’ll be comfortable with what he says," the indictment says.

Sellinger was eventually confirmed as the U.S. attorney, but at the direction of U.S. Justice Department officials, he recused himself from the Daibes case.

The indictment then depicts a frustrated and aggressive Menendez seeking to sway the Daibes case, by having two brief calls with Sellinger’s first assistant, Vikas Khanna. The indictment alleges no wrongdoing by Sellinger, but the extent of Menendez’s recruitment effort — and the details of the adviser’s call and the substance of Menendez’s two alleged calls to Khanna — could come under scrutiny. Khanna and Sellinger are also listed as potential witnesses who could be summoned to testify.

The trial may also offer an explanation for the government’s interest in legislation that would have limited the size of high-rise development east of the Palisades stretching down from Bergen and Hudson counties.

The Palisades Cliffs Protection Act also would have limited the scope of Daibes’ project plans near the Hudson River waterfront. The bill, co-sponsored by state Sens. Nicholas Sacco, D-North Bergen, and Brian Stack, D-Union City, never gained traction in the Legislature. Both Sacco and Stack are listed as possible witnesses. A spokesman for Sacco said he has not been contacted by officials regarding the trial.

Charlie Stile is a veteran New Jersey political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bob Menendez trial: Expect some NJ flavor in indictments