Ethics committee admonishes Sen. Bob Menendez over taking gifts, advocating for donor

The Senate's ethics committee "severely admonished" Sen. Bob Menendez on Thursday for accepting gifts and advocating for a donor's personal and business interests.

"Your actions reflected discredit upon the Senate," the four-page public letter of admonition said.

The letter cited Menendez's use of a private jet owned by Florida eye specialist Salomon Melgen and the senator's intervention with Medicare officials about $8.9 million Melgen was accused of overcharging the government. It also said Menendez pressed customs and State Department officials about matters that affected Melgen's business and personal affairs.

Menendez reimbursed Melgen $58,500 for three of the flights when the scandal first erupted in 2013, but the committee said he needs to pay for all the gifts and trips taken. He was also ordered to update disclosure forms for prior years to show he received the gifts.

Melgen was sentenced in February to 17 years in prison after being convicted at a separate trial of 67 counts including health care fraud, submitting false claims and falsifying patients' records.

Menendez, D-N.J., was indicted in 2015 on criminal charges related to the gifts and his advocacy. A jury in November could not reach a verdict, and a mistrial was declared. The judge then acquitted Menendez of some of the most serious charges before the government dropped the remainder of its case in January. Menendez is on the ballot seeking his third term.

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"The fact that your criminal trial did not result in a conviction ... neither enforces nor supplants the Senate's rules or standards of conduct," wrote the committee's six members, who are evenly split between the two parties.

Menendez had no immediate response.

His attorney, Marc Elias, said on Twitter that the findings of the committee were "contradicted by the presiding judge and rejected by the jury" at last fall's trial. He said Menendez "looks forward to continuing to serve the people of New Jersey."

Menendez received support from fellow New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.

“I haven’t had the chance to read the letter, but I’ve only known Bob Menendez to be an honest public servant who has worked tirelessly on behalf of our state and nation and who has put New Jerseyans first," Booker said.

Committee members said they recognized that Menendez's advocacy was "consistent with your long-held policy beliefs on Medicare and post-9/11 port security." But it said the worthiness of the cause "does not negate the duty to ensure compliance with ethical standards."

The committee also found that Menendez's efforts for Melgen "went well beyond Senate norms."

Menendez pressed the State Department to approve visas so girlfriends of Melgen could visit him in Florida, for example. He also urged the State Department to intervene in a contract dispute between a company Melgen owned and the Dominican Republic government.

"Notably, you have not disputed the fact that you accepted numerous gifts from Dr. Melgen and took official actions related to his interests," the committee said. "Your decision to accept and your failure to disclose numerous gifts while simultaneously using your Senate office in furtherance of Dr. Melgen's interest created, at a minimum, the appearance of impropriety."

While a trial jury must find evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that someone committed a crime, the ethics committee faced a lower standard of "clear and convincing evidence." It also had to find only that Menendez violated Senate rules, not the criminal statutes prohibiting bribery and honest services fraud that he was accused of violating in his indictment.

Article continues after letter

Menendez is seeking re-election to another six-year term this year. A Monmouth University poll released April 12 said he was leading potential Republican opponent Bob Hugin, a former CEO of the pharmaceutical company Celgene, by 52 percent to 32 percent among registered voters.

After the letter was released, Hugin called on Menendez to resign.

"Both Democrats and Republicans that make up the Bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee have found that Sen. Bob Menendez violated federal law and ethics rules," Hugin said in a statement. "He is an embarrassment to our state and it is time for him to resign."

Bob Salera, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, added that the findings of the committee should outrage New Jersey voters.

"The Senate Ethics Committee found what was already crystal clear from Menendez’s criminal trial — Bob Menendez is a crook and an embarrassment,” Salera said.

Gov. Phil Murphy, Senate President Stephen Sweeney and other New Jersey Democratic officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but Essex County Democratic Chairman Leroy Jones said the letter of admonition changes his support for Menendez “not one iota.”

“That’s an admonishment. It’s not an admission of guilt. It’s not an act of guilt. It’s not a crime. It’s nothing more than what it is,” Jones said. “If its tone is strong, then its tone is strong. But on the flip side, my support for Bob Menendez is unequivocal, it’s strong, it’s steady and it’s consistent, and it will be that through his re-election.”

Asked if the letter would hurt other New Jersey Democrats running for election this year, Jones replied: “Not as long as Donald Trump is president.”

Menendez is the second senator from New Jersey to receive a letter of admonishment. Sen. Robert Torricelli, also a Democrat, got the scolding over accepting gifts from a contributor in July 2002. He ended up withdrawing from his re-election campaign in September 2002, prompting Democrats to sue for the ability to replace him on the ballot with Frank Lautenberg, a former senator who had retired two years earlier.

The most recent previous public punishment was a letter of "qualified admonition" issued to Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., in 2012 for meeting with a former aide to Sen. John Ensign during the period the aide was barred from discussing legislative matters. Ensign, R-Nev., resigned as part of the scandal.

Another New Jersey Democrat, Harrison Williams faced the ultimate penalty after his conviction in May 1981 on corruption charges related to the Abscam scandal. Williams was facing a vote in the Senate to expel him when he resigned in March 1982.

Staff Writer Nicholas Pugliese contributed to this article.