Menendez burns campaign cash while big-name donors prop up his legal defense fund

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez is burning through cash while defending himself against corruption charges.

New Jersey’s senior senator raised just shy of $16,000 in the last three months of 2023 — and refunded all of it, according to Federal Election Commission records released Wednesday. He was indicted on Sept. 22, about a week before the final quarter of the year began.

Menendez’s legal defense fund, a separate account specifically to pay for his legal troubles, pulled in much more money — a little less than half a million since mid-July — but he also spent more than three quarters of it in that time, according to the latest filing with the IRS. His legal defense funds are reported to the IRS rather than the FEC because they are not related to political campaigns.

The two filings reflect the financial strain on Menendez since federal authorities in Manhattan accused him of accepting cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz in exchange for his influence as a senator to benefit three businesspeople and the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

And with a handful of candidates running for his Senate seat this year, Menendez’s paltry fundraising paired with his tanking popularity show the steep challenges he may face if he seeks reelection. He has not said whether he will run for another term, but the two biggest Democratic names seeking to replace him, New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy and Rep. Andy Kim, are well ahead of him in the key areas of fundraising and political support.

Kim reported raising $1.7 million while Murphy hauled in $3.2 million in the fourth quarter, according to the FEC.

A spokesperson for Menendez, who is scheduled to go on trial in May, did not respond to questions about his fundraising Wednesday evening.

In a filing with the IRS, the Menendez defense fund reported raising $469,500, buoyed with donations from some prominent businesspeople, including cigar magnate Carlos Fuente, the real estate firm led by relatives of Jared Kushner and the former Reebok chief executive Paul Fireman, who is linked to a controversial reported development in the northern New Jersey county where Menendez grew up.

Raúl Alarcón, the president of Spanish Broadcasting System, a Spanish-focused media company, also gave $10,000.

The prominent New Jersey power broker George Norcross gave $10,000, as did Alessandra Norcross and Alexander Norcross, his two children. The elder Norcross’ business partner at the insurance brokerage Conner Strong & Buckelew also gave $10,000. All those donations were made before Menendez’s indictment.

Menendez’s leadership PAC also transferred $10,000 from its coffers to the legal defense fund. Just a few days after Menendez was indicted, the leadership PAC reported that it had received $5,000 each from the campaigns of Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) and $2,500 from Lisa Blunt Rochester’s Senate campaign.

A spokesperson for Blunt Rochester’s campaign said it was a refund of a donation from Menendez’s PAC. FEC filings for Fetterman’s and Watson Coleman’s campaigns also state that the donations were contribution refunds.

Law firms retained for the defense effort include the firm of prominent Democratic attorney Marc Elias, who made a name for himself in voting rights legislation. His firm was paid about $46,000. The white shoe firm Winston Strawn was also paid $70,000 for legal services, and the D.C.-based law firm Schertler Onorato was paid $178,000.

Samantha Maltzman, a former Menendez staffer — who also worked for Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Hillary Clinton — was paid for fundraising consulting services, according to the filing. GLH Consulting, another fundraising firm that has worked for his and other Democratic campaigns, also helped with fundraising.

In the last quarter of 2023, Menendez’s campaign account raised just $15,795 but refunded over $16,000.