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- [00:00]
Micah Oinger
Hey, it's Micah. Before we get into the podcast, I have a quick message. You probably know that on the Media is produced by the public radio station WNYC. WNYC's fiscal year ends on June 30, and what that means for on the Media is that right now we're planning for the year ahead. With everything that's happened in the last year, it would be crazy to think that we can predict what will happen in the next 12 months. But one thing we know for sure is that whatever it is onthemedia will be there to cover it, because you will be there for us. Donations from listeners are an important source of funding for otm. If you've counted on the show to help make sense of everything over the last year, please make a donation to support us in the year to come. Give today@onthemedia.org donate and thank you. Hey, you're listening to the on the Media Midweek podcast. I'm Michael Oinger. This week we're sharing the third and final episode of Dead End the Rise and Fall of Gold Bar Bob Menendez, a brand new series about the disgraced former senator for wnyc, reporter and host Nancy Solomon asks, why would a man at the top of the political world risk everything? Here, Nancy reconstructs what went wrong.
- [01:26]
Nancy Solomon
Bob Menendez is a creature of habit. When he's in his hometown, he likes to get breakfast at the ihop. His adult children, the MSNBC host Alicia Menendez, and the congressman Rob Menendez joked about his habits in a campaign video a few years ago. Have you ever been to a restaurant.
- [01:43]
Micah Oinger
With him that you've been to more.
- [01:44]
Tracy Tully
Than three times where he's ordered something different?
- [01:47]
Micah Oinger
Never.
- [01:48]
Nancy Solomon
Never. And during the 31 years he worked in Congress, Menendez was a regular at Morton's Steakhouse in downtown Washington. And now one dinner at Morton's in May 2019 is at the center of his downfall. Let me set the scene. Two FBI agents were there posing as a couple on a date. They scored a table not far from where Menendez and his future wife Nadine were dining with Will Hana, the halal meat guy we met last episode, and next to Hana was a member of Egyptian intelligence. One of the FBI agents later testified that she heard Nadine speak only once. What else can the love of my life do for you? She asked the Egyptian men. This is the final installment of Dead End the Rise and Fall of Gold Bar Bob Menendez. We've been looking at the whirlwind romance of Bob and Nadine Menendez and their love child, a bribery scheme involving a Halal meat business, an Egyptian weapons deal, and more than half a million dollars in cash and gold bars. In this episode, we're going to find out how they got caught and try to answer the question Many of those close to Bob Menendez are still ask. Why would he jeopardize one of the most powerful jobs in the country and risk a long prison sentence for half a million dollars? The Morton Steakhouse dinner was just one of several between Menendez, Wil Hanna and Egyptian intelligence officials. The FBI agent who testified, she said when they watched the dinner, they were not there to surveil Menendez. She never said exactly why they were even there. So I asked Tracy Tully, the New York Times reporter, if she understood it. Did you ever figure out which one of those characters they were interested in? It would make sense to me that it was Hannah and that they had been tipped off by the USDA that something hinky was going on with the Halal meat certification contract.
- [04:07]
Damian Williams
Hana had had his office and apartment searched at some point, and they took virtually everything and all his computers and his jewelry and his phones. And they'd been poring through all that for some time. And that was right around the time of the Halal Meet Genesis thing.
- [04:32]
Nancy Solomon
Eventually, the FBI would show up at the split level ranch house that Nadine and Bob Menendez shared in Inglewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The plan was for agents to search the house without attracting any attention. They used unmarked vehicles, covered their FBI branded clothing, and tried not to make a mess. After all, it was the home of a US Senator. But they found cash and gold bars tucked into every nook and cranny of the house. So much, in fact, that they had to call in reinforcements. And two cash counting machines. U.S. attorney Damian Williams included in the indictment a photo of the senator's bomber jacket with Robert Menendez and a Senate seal embroidered on the front.
- [05:20]
Chara Torres Spellosi
Some of the cash was stuffed in the senator's jacket pockets. That's not all. Agents also discovered a lot of gold.
- [05:28]
Nancy Solomon
Senator Menendez had hit the jackpot. It turns out Wil Hanna, Halal guy, had a business partner, a wealthy real estate developer in New Jersey. His name is Fred Davies, and he collects gold bars, some of which made their way into the Menendez home. When he announced the indictment, the U.S. attorney laid out the scheme first.
- [05:53]
Chara Torres Spellosi
The indictment alleges that Senator Menendez used his power and influence, including his leadership role on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to benefit the government of Egypt.
- [06:03]
Nancy Solomon
In various ways, Menendez helped Egyptian officials write a Letter to his colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He basically ghost wrote it. The letter was asking for the release of $300 million worth of military aid. Menendez sent the letter to Nadine, who forwarded it to Wil Hanna, who passed it on to Egyptian officials. Essentially, all they had to do was add their letterhead and signature and send it on to Menendez's colleagues in the Senate.
- [06:35]
Chara Torres Spellosi
We also allege that Senator Menendez improperly pressured a senior Official at the U.S. department of Agriculture to protect a lucrative monopoly that the government of Egypt had awarded to Hanna. A lucrative monopoly that Hanna then used to fund certain bribe payments.
- [06:52]
Nancy Solomon
It's a three way trade. Menendez gives Egypt what they want. That's the helping a foreign government charge. Egypt gives Hana the monopoly, which makes him instantly rich. And Hanna pays Bob and Nadine Menendez in cash and gold. That's the bribery charge. Menendez was also charged with obstruction of justice for his attempts to help two New Jersey businessmen who were facing criminal charges. Fred Davies, the guy who collects gold bars, and Jose Uribe, the one who meets with Menendez on the back patio in New Jersey. When the Senator rings a little bell to summon Nadine to the table, Uribe gave them a Mercedes convertible to replace the car Nadine totaled when she killed the pedestrian. Remember, she wasn't found to be at fault, but she also wasn't drug or alcohol tested and, and her phone wasn't inspected to see if she was driving distracted. But the part of this story that has fascinated me the most has been about how it all began and whether Nadine actually chose to date Menendez for ulterior motives. I brought this up with Times reporter Tracy Tully when I started to learn about the case before the trial, and then listening to some of the testimony at the trial, you know, I would wonder, was Nadine Menendez an Egyptian spy? How do you see her role in this?
- [08:28]
Damian Williams
I guess I walked away thinking, no, she was not an Egyptian spy. But she was and is, it seems, certainly based on the text message, an opportunist. And she saw as she wrote to one of her children, I believe, you know, every time I'm in the middle, I'm going to get money.
- [08:48]
Nancy Solomon
Eventually I came to the same conclusion. For one thing, the texts that Nadine sent right after her first date with Menendez showed that she didn't know anything about the Senator's powerful position on the Foreign Relations Committee. When Nadine meets up with Will Hanna, she asked Menendez what international position he had. And Hanna didn't even know the Senator's name, the texts show. Also, there's the timeline. It only took 25 days from their first date for Menendez to agree to an off the books meeting with an Egyptian general. So suffice to say, he was a pretty willing partner in crime. And then if Nadine was a spy, she was a really bad one. I mean, don't they learn in spying 101 to never put anything in a text? And she seemed to think that if she deleted texts from her phone, they would not be discovered. At one point, she asks Menendez if she should text one of their co conspirators and he quickly shoots back in a text, mind you, no, you should not text or email. Senator Menendez participated in many text exchanges that he certainly must now regret. In many of them, Nadine is in the middle of communications between the senator and Egypt's intelligence officers. He texts her, tell Will I'm going to sign off this sail to Egypt today. And then he lists the exact types of ammunition Egypt will get. Nadine screenshots the text and sends the message to Will Hanna, which Hanna then sends to the Egyptian general in charge of obtaining US weapons on WhatsApp. The general replies with three thumbs up emojis. Bob and Nadine Menendez were convicted on all charges. Menendez resigned from the Senate in August of 2024. Nadine won't be sentenced until September. I was at the courthouse for the sentencing of Bob and it was pretty surprising. That's coming up next.
- [11:24]
Yasmin Vesugian
As the day wraps up. Get the scoop on what's been happening with here's the Scoop, the new podcast from NBC News. With me, your host Yasmin Vesugian, along with Morgan Chesky and Brian Chung. We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News trusted journalists. It's a fresh take that's sharp, thoughtful and it's informative, bringing you closer to the headlines and conversations that are shaping our world. From the front page to the zeitgeist, all in 15 minutes or less. Here's the scoop from NBC News. Listen daily wherever you get your podcasts.
- [12:00]
Nancy Solomon
I've arrived at the federal courthouse in Manhattan. It's about 8:30 in the morning and this is sentencing day. Strangely, the last senator to go to prison was also from New Jersey and that had to do with the Abscam case 44 years ago. There's no recording in the courthouse, so I have to check all my stuff and won't be able to do a blow by blow. Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Menendez to 15 years. His defense team initially asked for a sentence range of no jail time to two years. But after the judge sentenced Will Hanna and Fred Daibes to eight and seven years, respectively, the Menendez team spent the lunch break rewriting their statements to the judge. They asked for eight years, and Menendez made a personal plea that was meant to show his remorse. Your Honor, he said, you have before you a chastened man. And then he broke down and cried. The courtroom was silent as he took a few moments to compose himself. His adult children were sitting behind him in the front row. They didn't move a muscle, and Nadine wasn't there. He asked the judge to take into account all he had done in his career. And for that, the judge did knock off a few years, but he sentenced him to 11 years. Any sentence longer than 10 meant Menendez could not be assigned to a minimum security camp. Afterwards, that chastened man stepped in front of a bank of microphones outside the courthouse and struck a very different tone. He turned his attention to the one man who could save him.
- [14:02]
Tracy Tully
President Trump is right. This process is political and it's corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.
- [14:15]
Nancy Solomon
Are you gonna ask Trump? You're a Democrat. The keys was brought by Democrats. How is this a witch hunt? That was January 29th of this year. And it seemed far fetched that Bob Menendez, a progressive who voted to impeach the president, would get a pardon from him. But two weeks later, Trump's Department of Justice ordered federal prosecutors in New York to drop their case against the Democratic mayor, Eric Adams.
- [14:47]
Brad Lawrence
As someone who's a constitutional law professor, this is really irksome.
- [14:52]
Nancy Solomon
Chara Torres Spellisi teaches at the Stetson University College of Law in Florida. She writes about political corruption. What do you think about the possibility that Donald Trump may pardon Menendez?
- [15:07]
Brad Lawrence
Well, it would fit a pattern of the Trump pardons. Both in his first term and early in his second term, he has had a habit of pardoning people who have violated anti corruption laws, whether they're white collar crime, anti corruption laws, or campaign finance laws.
- [15:29]
Nancy Solomon
Some have argued that Menendez, because he is out of office and voted to impeach Trump, is unlikely to get a pardon. But for Torres Spelosi, the president's history means all bets are off.
- [15:43]
Brad Lawrence
It's hard to know who Trump will pardon next. One of the more recent pardons was for the former governor of Illinois, Rod Bogojevich. He was a Democrat, so I'm not sure whether the Democratic label matters so much to Trump. He seems much more interested in undermining anti corruption laws left, right and center.
- [16:16]
Nancy Solomon
Lawyers for Menendez aren't counting on a pardon and are working on an appeal. And the US Supreme Court. It might help him.
- [16:25]
Brad Lawrence
The Roberts Supreme Court has been steadily deregulating corruption. They've done this both in white collar crime cases and in campaign finance cases.
- [16:38]
Nancy Solomon
Whether or not Bob Menendez receives a pardon or wins his appeal, it remains an epic collapse of what was a historic political career. He was the first in everything he did, first in his family to go to college, first Latino elected mayor, state senator, and New Jersey member of Congress. And there's another thing. In all the cartoonish details of this story, the gold bars and the stacks of cash squirreled away in his home, there was never any discussion of, of the unique position Menendez occupied in the Senate. I spoke about this with Brad Lawrence, the campaign consultant who worked for Menendez for more than 40 years. He's the one who invited him to his wedding back in the 1980s.
- [17:23]
Nicolas Charvolatti
I think Bob was sort of an anachronism in the sense of a guy that really had no money, came from no money, literally no money, that did live in a tiny little apartment. His mother was a seamstress. His father eventually committed suicide. I mean, grew up a very difficult life. And then all of a sudden he's in this most exclusive club in the world. All the fucking cliches about what the United States Senate is. And I think there's something corrosive about that.
- [17:51]
Nancy Solomon
The majority of US Senators are wealthy. And then there are the lobbyists, some of them who had worked for Menendez as kids right out of college, and then went on to make big salaries on K Street in Washington.
- [18:03]
Nicolas Charvolatti
And I think the fundraising aspect of it, which is not only you in that bubble in the Senate, but then you're in this bubble with all these wealthy donors that are, you know, they're flying around in private jets, they're doing this, they're doing that. And you're this guy that grew up, you know, in this one room apartment in Union City, and you're going, on the one hand, I'm as good as they are, if not better.
- [18:25]
Tracy Tully
I would imagine that that wealth around you does begin to gnaw you.
- [18:30]
Nancy Solomon
Nicolas Charvolatti also worked for Menendez. Like his former boss, he's from a working class immigrant family. He says working in Washington with all the wealth in the Senate lobbyists and donors was not easy for Menendez.
- [18:44]
Tracy Tully
I mean, that would frustrate the hell out of me. So I would imagine it would frustrate the hell out of him.
- [18:47]
Nancy Solomon
Chara Vellotti doesn't think it's a coincidence that shortly after Menendez fell in love with Nadine, he wanted more money.
- [18:55]
Tracy Tully
I think that puts some pressure on you and causes you some doubts about what you should be earning. I think that does have an impact because you can't really do the things that I think other people can do.
- [19:11]
Nancy Solomon
The bribery scheme, the Egyptian weapons deal, the stacks of cash and gold bars. It's mystifying to Brad Lawrence.
- [19:19]
Nicolas Charvolatti
I don't have the answer to it. I wish I did. And I feel like I'm an idiot that I don't have the answer for it. I don't want to be a Bob Menendez apologist, particularly in light of how it ended. But I also have a long history and a respect and affection for at least the first three quarters of his life, political life. But, you know, it is to me, an inexplicable and tragic way for him to go.
- [19:55]
Nancy Solomon
Standing outside Schuylkill Prison in Pennsylvania, it's bleak. A bunch of low slung concrete buildings right off the highway. It's a long way from the nation's capital with its grand dome looking out over the reflecting pool. You think that was him? Was there anyone in the backseat? Now Bob Menendez has reported to Schuylkill Prison to begin serving his 11 year sentence. The speeding with the Jersey plates seems really suspicious when I think about him in prison. I remember the story he tells about getting bullied in school. This is the guy that grabbed a wood plank at a construction site, whacked the bully and never had a problem with him again. And I think about him standing outside the courtroom, looking out the window at the Manhattan skyline and singing. It's impossible to know whether he's the chastened man he described to the judge, but one thing is certain. His legacy and the first sentence of his obituary is now changed forever. I'm Nancy Solomon. I made this series with Emily Bottin and Jared Paul, our sound designer and music composer. We had help from Alex Brady, Amber Bruce, Rex Stone, Katie Graham, David Krasnow, Mike Kutschman, Valentina Powers and Jackson Vale. Thanks for listening.
- [22:02]
Micah Oinger
That's it for this week's podcast Extra. If you don't already consider following the show on Bluesky, Instagram and TikTok, just search on the media. And by the way, please leave OTM a review on your podcast of choice. It'll help us reach new listeners. I'm Michael Olinger.
- [22:34]
Ira Flatow
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