Menendez admonished

Menendez admonished by Senate Ethics Committee

By JOHN BRESNAHAN

The Senate Ethics Committee has formally admonished Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.) over his relationship with a close friend and donor, Dr. Salomon Melgen.

This comes as Menendez — finally clear of a years-long federal criminal case — is trying to win reelection in November to a third Senate term. The Ethics Committee's move is a blow to Menendez, but it may not be enough to derail his reelection effort.

In a letter released on Thursday, the Ethics panel declared Menendez "knowingly and repeatedly accepted gifts of significant value from Dr. Melgen without obtaining required Committee approval, and that you failed to publicly disclose certain gifts as required by Senate Rule and federal law. Additionally, while accepting these gifts, you used your position as a Member of the Senate to advance Dr. Melgen's personal and business interests."

The Ethics Committee's letter is signed by all six senators on the panel, including three Democrats — Sens. Chris Coons (Del.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.).

In a statement, Menendez's lawyer said the New Jersey Democrat was relieved the case is over, but also noted Menendez's defense team didn't agree with the Ethics Committee's findings. Menendez will now have to repay Melgen for some of the cost of stays in the Dominican Republic and other improper gifts, in addition to the more than $58,000 that Menendez ready paid for private jet flights.

"We are glad that this Ethics Committee process that began nearly six years ago is now finally resolved," Marc Elias said in a statement posted on Twitter. "As those who followed the nearly 11-week trial know, many of the findings in the letter were not only contradicted by the presiding judge, but the proceedings clearly demonstrated there was no violation of any law. That was further underscored when the Department of Justice dropped its baseless charges in January."

Menendez was the target of a lengthy criminal probe by DOJ. In April 2015, Menendez was indicted for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in improper gifts and campaign contributions as bribes in exchange for using his office to help Melgen.

According to the indictment, Menendez intervened in a multimillion-dollar Medicare billing dispute on Melgen’s behalf, helped obtained visas for several Melgen girlfriends and lobbied State Department officials regarding a $500 million port security contract that a Melgen-owned company had with the Dominican Republic.

However, the charges against Menendez were dropped earlier this year after federal prosecutors failed to convict him following a nearly three-month trial. That decisions was a major victory for Menendez, and soon after, the 64-year-old New Jersey Democrat declared he was running for reelection. Top New Jersey Democrats, including new Gov. Phil Murphy and Sen. Cory Booker, threw their support behind him.

Melgen, though, has been convicted of bilking Medicare out of $73 million and was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison. Melgen is appealing his sentence.

Yet once the criminal case against Menendez was finished, the evidence gathered by the Justice Department and testimony from the New Jersey Democrat's trial were then available to the Senate Ethics Committee, which used this information in its own review of his actions.

Menendez admitted during the trial that he had accepted gifts from Melgen, but said they were "old friends" and his failure to declare the gifts on disclosure forms was an honest mistake. But Menendez's admission also opened the door for the Ethics Committee to take action against him over these improper gifts. Any gift from a friend worth more than $250 has to be approved by the Ethics Committee and declared in senators‘ annual financial disclosure report.

"From 2006 through 2013, you accepted numerous things of value from Dr. Melgen, including, but not limited to, travel on private and commercial flights, a luxury hotel stay in Paris, and lodging on 19 occasions at a Dominican Republic villa," the Ethics Committee wrote. "You did not pay fair market value for, or, where required, obtain necessary written approval from the Committee to accept these gifts."

The Ethics Committee added: "Notably, you have not disputed the fact that you accepted numerous gifts from Dr. Melgen and took official actions related to his interests."

Thus, and in unusually harsh language , the Ethics Committee found Menendez had repeatedly violated the Senate rules in his dealings with Melgen.

"You demonstrated disregard for these standards by placing your Senate office in Dr. Melgen's service at the same time you repeatedly accepted gifts of significant value from him," the Ethics Committee stated. "Your assistance to Dr. Melgen under these circumstances demonstrated poor judgment, and it risked undermining the public's confidence in the Senate. As such, your actions reflected discredit upon the Senate."