Reports indicate at least four gold bars that federal investigators recovered during their search of Sen. Bob Menendez's (D-N.J.) home are directly linked to one of the men accused of bribing the sitting U.S. senator.
According to The Daily Wire, in 2013 businessman Fred Daibes filed a police report stating that he was the victim of an armed robbery and that the assailants took $500,000 in cash from him and nearly two dozen gold bars with specific serial numbers.
Police later caught the suspects and Daibes' property was returned to him, including the gold bars. According to Daibes, who had to sign a document certifying that the property was his, the gold bars all had serial numbers that would never be duplicated onto another gold bar.
“Each gold bar has its own serial number,” he told investigators at the time. “They're all stamped … you'll never see two stamped the same way.”
Four of the gold bars that investigators recovered from Menendez's home have the same serial numbers as four of the 22 gold bars that were stolen and later returned to Daibes. (RELATED: Indicted US Senator Asked Google ‘How Much Is One Kilo Of Gold Worth?')
The New Jersey Senator and his wife Nadine were indicted on multiple charges including conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. (RELATED: US Senator Bob Menendez Charged With Conspiracy To Act As Foreign Agent In New Indictment)
The Justice Department later charged the two with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent for Egypt. The indictment alleges Menendez “provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt.”
Sen. Menendez is facing up to 45 years in prison if convicted.
Despite the litany of charges facing Menendez the Senator has refused to resign. Last week, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) called on the upper chamber to expel the “sinister” lawmaker. (RELATED: Fetterman Urges Senator's Expulsion – Again)
“Senator Menendez, he needs to go,” Fetterman said. “And if you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate? And, you know, Santos is kind of, lies were almost, you know, funny. And like, you know, he, you know, landed on the moon and that kind of stuff.”
“Whereas, you know, I think, you know, Menendez, I think is really a senator for Egypt. You know, not New Jersey. So I really think he needs to go.”
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