WASHINGTON — New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez was indicted by the feds Wednesday for taking pricey gifts in exchange for helping a wealthy Florida doctor get his model girlfriends US visas — but the Obama-opposing lawmaker immediately vowed to fight the charges.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Menedez declared at a press conference Wednesday. “I’m angry and I’m ready to fight.”
Federal prosectors claim that the 61-year-old Democrat — who has been a foe of President Obama on Cuba, Iran and immigration reform — accepted a slew of gifts from Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, including flights on the doctor’s private jet and luxury stays in his private Caribbean villa.
Melgen even used American Express points to pay Menendez’s bill at a five-star Paris hotel, the indictment claims.
In exchange, Menendez became the millionaire medic’s personal go-to senator, according to the court papers.
Menendez, who said he thought Obama’s recent outreach to Cuba “stinks,” defiantly insisted he would not let the charges by the Justice Department stop him from standing up to the administration.
“I will not be silenced,” said Menendez, who reportedly had a heated, face-to-face exchange with Obama over Iran nuclear talks at a January retreat for Democrats.
“For nearly three years, I’ve lived under a Justice Department cloud, and today I’m outraged this cloud has not been lifted.”
In addition to the visa help, the lawmaker lobbied the administration to adjust the way Medicare reimburses doctors in an attempt to make millions for Melgen, the court papers say.
Between 2007 and 2008, Menendez allegedly helped Melgen, 61, get visas for his three model girlfriends, who hailed from Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Ukraine and who were as young as 22.
They each needed help with student and tourist visas, so they could visit Melgen at his West Palm Beach, Fla., home, according to the indictment.
Menendez — who faces 15 years in prison — announced he would relinquish the top Democratic spot on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
But he said he would not resign and said prosecutors “don’t know the difference between friendship and corruption.”
“I’m confident at the end of the day I will be vindicated and they will be exposed,” he said. “This is not how my career is going to end.”
The visas and the trips are only part of Menendez’s problems. He’s also accused of using his influence with a State Department official in 2012 to resolve a dispute over a shipping contract at Dominican ports for one of Melgen’s businesses.
Prosecutors further charge that he and his staff intervened in 2012 to help Melgen in an $8.9 million dispute over Medicare billing.