WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Menendez was "severely admonished" by the Senate ethics committee for taking undisclosed gifts and advocating for the donor's personal and business interests.

The four-page "Public Letter of Admonition" was a harsh assessment of the New Jersey Democrat, saying his actions "reflected discredit on the Senate" and "violated Senate rules and related statutes."

The letter never uses the word "guilty," however, and never mentions campaign contributions, which made up the bulk of what the Justice Department said were nearly $1 million in bribes when Menendez was indicted in 2015. A jury deadlocked on those charges in November, and a judge in January acquitted Menendez of several counts before government prosecutors dropped the case.

Ads and statements by Republican Senate candidate Bob Hugin and the super PAC supporting him, Integrity NJ, seem to ignore that a trial was ever held. They either repeat charges that were unproved or disproved, or conflate allegations in the indictment with the findings of the bipartisan ethics committee.

Here's a breakdown of what happened at Menendez's trial, what the ethics committee said after that, and how that is being spun in the campaign.

The trial

Menendez and co-defendant Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist, were accused of bribery, honest services fraud and other charges in an April 1, 2015, indictment. Menendez was also accused of filing a false financial disclosure form for not revealing trips he took on Melgen's private plane, stays at his home in a Dominican Republic resort and lodging at hotels, including a suite in Paris that Melgen paid for with American Express points.

The indictment also said that nearly $800,000 in contributions Melgen made that benefited Menendez — but never went to him personally — were bribes to get him to use his office to promote Melgen's personal and financial interests with President Barack Obama's administration, including a dispute about overcharging Medicare.

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In a separate trial in Florida, Melgen was convicted in April 2017 of Medicare fraud.

None of the corruption charges, tried in a Newark courtroom, was proved, and Menendez was acquitted on several.

An 11-week trial ended Nov. 16 in a hung jury, and a juror said afterward that they were split 10-2 in favor of acquittal on all charges. Prosecutors in January said they would retry Menendez. A week later, the trial judge ruled on a motion from the defense at the earlier trial and acquitted Menendez and Melgen on counts connected to $660,000 in campaign contributions. Judge William Walls wrote that prosecutors presented no evidence at trial those contributions were given in exchange for a benefit.

On Jan. 31, the Justice Department, now run by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, dropped the remainder of the case.

Ethics investigation

After the hung jury, the Senate Select Committee on Ethics decided that Menendez still did something wrong. On April 26, the committee of three Democrats and three Republicans issued a letter of public admonition.

Menendez "knowingly and repeatedly accepted gifts of significant value from Dr. Melgen" without prior approval or subsequent disclosure, the committee said.

"While accepting these gifts, you used your position as a member of the Senate to advance Dr. Melgen's personal and business interests," the committee wrote to Menendez. "The Committee has determined that this conduct violated Senate Rules, federal law, and applicable standards of conduct."

The letter mentions flights, the hotel stay in Paris and lodging in the Dominican Republic, but never gives a dollar amount, nor does it mention campaign contributions.

While it said Menendez violated federal law, the laws mentioned in the letter are those requiring financial disclosure and restricting privately funded air travel — not bribery.

Campaign spin

As harsh as the committee's condemnation was, Menendez's opponents are making it sound much worse.

One Hugin commercial implied Menendez was found guilty of the charges in the indictment by saying: "Bob Menendez chose a life in politics. Serving his donors. Getting indicted. Found guilty of breaking the law by Republicans and Democrats."

Another Hugin ad says Menendez "sold his office and took $1 million in illegal gifts from a convicted felon." This uses the total of bribes alleged in the government's original case, ignoring the judge's decision acquitting Menendez of Melgen on the bulk of the contributions, and the fact that Melgen was not convicted of anything when he made the contributions.

Hugin also uses the word "guilty" despite no court using that word, such as when he said at an Aug. 23 news conference: "The Senate bipartisan ethics committee said, 'Guilty, violated federal law.' "

A former chief counsel to the ethics committee, Rob Walker, said that while the committee found that Menendez violated rules, "that doesn't mean they found 'guilt' beyond a reasonable doubt" the way a jury would have to, because the committee uses a lower standard of proof.

"Using the word 'guilty' does seem to be taking a term from the criminal law enforcement and judicial contexts and grafting it inappropriately into a congressional ethics context," Walker said.

Integrity NJ's ads also ignore that the trial even happened. One says: "Melgen ... was charged with bribing Bob Menendez with luxury vacations and big campaign contributions. Menendez calls that 'friendship.' The Obama administration called it a crime."

Another said: "Prosecuted for conspiracy. Fraud. And bribery. Charged with taking nearly a million in campaign donations and gifts."

In a brief interview, Menendez called the attacks "a blatant lie, because obviously we had a judge that exonerated us of the most significant counts."