A Newark federal judge ruled to let the high-profile bribery case against Sen. Robert Menendez move forward despite objections from the senior senator’s lawyers that the government failed to prove its case when it rested last week.
“The jury will decide whose version of what happened what did not happen is likely or not,” Newark federal judge William Walls ruled from the bench on Monday.
The judge made the ruling after the defense requested that the judge dismiss the case — or at least some charges — based on a 2016 Supreme Court ruling that dramatically narrowed the definition of bribery.
Menendez stands accused of accepting all-expense-paid trips and private jet flights from Salomon Melgen, a wealthy Palm Beach eye doctor, in exchange for official favors, including help with the doctor’s $8.9M Medicare bill and help obtaining visas for the ophthalmologist’s young girlfriends.
The defense argued that much of the government’s case rested on allegations that fall short under the Supreme Court’s 2016 ruling overturning the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. In that case, the high court said that a public official must take an “official action,” like pushing legislation, to be convicted of bribery.
Mere meetings do not count as an official act that can be done in exchange for a bribe, according to the Supreme Court.
The defense seized on that ruling to argue that much of what Menendez is accused of consisted of meetings with public officials, including Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who met with Melgen at Menedez’s urging because Harkin was in a position to help change Medicare billing laws.
“Ultimately, Senator Harkin explained that all he did was take the meeting and listen, and that he never discussed the issue with Senator Menendez or Dr. Melgen again,” the defense argued in court papers.
But the judge on Monday ruled that the jury could determine that Menendez held the meetings because he “sought to pressure or advise” other officials to take official action, which counts as bribery under the McDonnell ruling.