Jonathan Blum said that during the meeting, when he explained CMS’ position, Robert Menendez pushed back on him “forcefully” and handed him a sworn deposition that the senator claimed contradicted what he was saying. | Getty Testimony: 'Angry' Menendez hung up on bureaucrat who wouldn't help Melgen

NEWARK — U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez was so angry that a federal bureaucrat wasn’t giving him the answers he wanted on his friend’s Medicare billing dispute that he hung up on him, according to testimony Monday at Menendez’s federal corruption trial.

“It started off cordial,” Jonathan Blum, a former principal deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said of a 2009 phone call with Menendez. “But during the call, as I did not yield on his statement that the agency wasn’t being consistent, the tone became more hostile.”


Menendez’s co-defendant, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, was enmeshed in an $8.9 million dispute over his “multi-dosing” of a drug called Lucentis to treat his patients. Menendez, a Democrat and New Jersey's senior senator, was arguing that CMS was being inconsistent in the way it billed for the drug.

The call — and a meeting three years later with Blum, then-Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, among others — are some of the favors prosecutors say Menendez did for Melgen in exchange for private jet flights, lavish vacations and hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions.

Blum testified in federal court in Newark that he “held firm” in the 2009 call with Menendez, refusing to admit CMS’ policies were inconsistent.

“It was definitely a call that stands out to me," Blum said. "The tone, I thought, was very aggressive. The tone was very angry. And I felt during the phone call that he was not happy with my answers."

Blum said Melgen’s name was never brought up during the conversation, but that based on briefing materials from the call, it was clear the issue had to do solely with doctor.

“I was very curious why the senator was focused on this case and asked the staff several times,” Blum said. “The senator is from New Jersey. The physician is based in Florida. I pressed our staff several times on the connection between the senator and Dr. Melgen.”

Blum said that near the end of the call, he explained to Menendez that Medicare was just beginning to seek repayment for over-billing from “the physician,” meaning Melgen, and he began to explain Melgen’s appeal rights.

“He [Menendez] said something to the effect of ‘Don’t tell me what the appeal rights are’ and the call ended quite quickly,’ Blum said, describing Menendez’s tone of voice as “very” angry.

“I believe that he hung up on me,” Blum said.

Menendez was also angry at the meeting he sat in on with Sebelius that was arranged by Reid, Blum said.

Blum said that during the meeting, when he explained CMS’ position, Menendez pushed back on him “forcefully” and handed him a sworn deposition that the senator claimed contradicted what he was saying.

“I pointed out very quickly that the person he was referring to was not me,” Blum said. “I found his tone to be very angry, very hostile ... It was a very angry exchange.”

Like the phone call from years earlier, Blum said, the meeting ended “quite angrily.”

Blum said it wasn’t only the angry tone of the conversation that sticks out in his memory; he said he met with many members of Congress during his time at the agency.

“Just about every interaction I had with a member of Congress was either about a national policy that affect many stakeholders throughout the country or about a specific issue in that member’s own state or district,” Blum said.

The defense did not dispute the details of the 2009 call, but Melgen attorney Kirk Ogrosky argued Menendez wasn’t angry that CMS was refusing to help Melgen. Rather, he said, the senator was frustrated by arcane and confusing billing rules.

“I think you said that [Menendez] was ‘pressing’ and that it was ‘hostile’ and that it was ‘unpleasant.’ Wouldn’t it be more fair to say it was frustrating?” Ogrosky asked.

“I think both of us were frustrated with the call, is my assessment,” Blum said.

Ogrosky tried to delve into details about Medicare’s billing policies, but Judge William Walls refused to allow it. Ogrosky argued he wanted to go into some detail to show Menendez wasn’t trying to “strong arm.”

“They put a witness on to say, ‘He was strong-arming me into doing so’ and I want to say no, his understanding of what was happening was about a policy that forms [Menendez’s] intent and motive,” Ogrosky said.

UPDATE: This story has been updated with later testimony.