The FBI says that New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez tried to interfere in two criminal matters in exchange for payoffs — and now NBC New York has learned the names of three people the Democratic senator allegedly wanted to pressure.
According to numerous sources familiar with the matter, two of the people were trying to become the state's U.S. Attorney. The third was, at the time, New Jersey’s attorney general, sources said.
In exchange for cash and gold, prosecutors said New Jersey’s senior senator wanted to recommend to the White House a U.S. Attorney candidate"who Menendez believed could be influenced by Menendez with respect to Daibes’ case … to act favorably in Daibes’s case." "What’s troubling about all of this is that a criminal defendant like Daibes shouldn’t have any reason to believe that a candidate for the U.S. Attorney’s office would be favorable to his case," said NBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos said.
Phil Sellinger ultimately got the U.S. Attorney post with Menendez’s support. But before that happened, while a candidate for the job, the senator allegedly brought up the Daibes case – and no other case – with Sellinger. Federal prosecutors said Sellinger told Menendez he would likely recuse himself from the Daibes bank fraud case. That’s when Menendez, according to the indictment, sought out Suarez as a possibility.
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