Welsh Liberal Democrat 2015 General Election campaign launch
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg joins Welsh Lib Dem Leader Kirsty Williams and Cardiff Central candidate Jenny Willott to launch the party #39;s election campaign at Panasonic, Cardiff. More...
By: Welsh Liberal Democrats
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Welsh Liberal Democrat 2015 General Election campaign launch - Video
Sen. Robert Menendez, a powerful force on Capitol Hill and ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was charged Wednesday with receiving nearly $1 million in gifts and campaign contributions from a longtime friend and benefactor in exchange for using his Senate office to help the Florida mans business and personal interests.
The bribery and conspiracy charges, long-awaited after questions surfaced about his dealings with Dr. Salomon Melgen of West Palm Beach, Fla., marks the first time since 2008 that a sitting senator has faced criminal charges. A federal grand jury in his home state of New Jersey filed the indictment Wednesday.
Menendez and Melgen, both 61, were each charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of violating the travel act, eight counts of bribery and three counts of honest services fraud.
Menendez was also charged with one count of making false statements.
A senator since 2006, Menendez vigorously denied any wrongdoing Wednesday and said he would be vindicated.
Approaching the podium to raucous cheers from a group of supporters in Newark, N.J., Menendez dismissed the indictment as a political maneuver.
For nearly three years, Ive lived under a Justice Department cloud, and today Im outraged that this cloud has not been lifted, he said.
Im outraged that prosecutors at the Justice Department were tricked into starting this investigation three years ago with false allegations by those who have a political motive to silence me, but I will not be silenced," he said. "Im confident, at the end of the day, I will be vindicated and they will be exposed."
Menendez did not take questions, but said federal prosecutors misunderstood his relationship with Melgen.
Prosecutors at the Justice Department dont know the difference between friendship and corruption, he said.
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Menendez vows to fight bribery, conspiracy charges
Nick Clegg with East Dunbartonshire MP Jo Swinson and journalists from Scottish media in Glasgow. Clegg has persistently brushed aside suggestions that he might lose his seat despite three polls showing him trailing. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA
Nick Clegg is predicted to lose his seat of Sheffield Hallam in the latest batch of polls commissioned by Lord Ashcroft setting out the state of the race for votes in eight key Liberal Democrat battleground seats.
The poll shows Clegg trailing Labour by two points, but on Wednesday the Lib Dem leader said he believed he would win in May partly because of his name recognition with the local electorate.
The data also shows that the Conservatives may not be campaigning hard in the seat, in a potential sign that the Tory high command would like to see Clegg returned. The Tory contact rate is the lowest of any of the eight seats surveyed by Ashcroft.
According to the poll, 16% of voters will back the Conservative candidate in Sheffield Hallam and 6% will opt for the Greens.
Campaigning in Scotland on Wednesday, Clegg said: The poll, as it happens, didnt even mention the candidates names and our own polling where it does it always shows a significant uplift in our support.
And just if you look at the way people have voted rather than what theyve said to Lord Ashcroft since 2010, people in Sheffield have consistently voted Liberal Democrat.
The Ashcroft poll of the eight constituencies also shows the Conservative party has consolidated its position in battleground south-west seats such Camborne and Redruth, North Devon and St Austell and Newquay, where it leads by 13, seven and six points respectively.
However, the Lib Dems lead the Tories by two points 38 to 36 in North Cornwall, with Ukip on 16%.
In Torbay, the Lib Dems have tied with the Tories in previous Ashcroft polls, but now have a one- point lead, with Ukip on 17%. In St Ives, the Lib Dems lead by three points and Ukip is on 11%, a vote that again could be squeezed by the Tories.
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Nick Clegg on course to lose seat at election, according to Lord Ashcroft poll
However he maintained that Justice Department prosecutors were "tricked" into starting an investigation because of a "political motive to silence" the senator. "They are dead wrong and this is not how my career is going to end."
Mr Menendez, one of the most influential Hispanic American lawmakers in Congress, has previously staunchly defended himself, denying the allegations to reporters on March 6 saying he had "conducted myself appropriately" and not broken the law.
If he did so, however, New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie, would likely appoint a Republican replacement to serve until a special election.
That would bring the number of Republicans in the Senate to 55, one seat closer to the 60-seat super majority needed to overcome Democrats' procedural roadblocks and advance legislation.
The 61-year-old senator has acknowledged that he and Mr Melgen have been close friends for more than two decades, celebrating holidays, family weddings, funerals and birthdays together.
Mr Menendez was invited to Melgen's villa in the Dominican Republic on several occasions, and had to repay tens of thousands of dollars for several trips on the doctor's plane after admitting to a mix-up with air fares from his 2012 re-election campaign.
Menendez is also accused of intervening in 2009 and 2012 with the agency that oversees the Medicare senior health program following a ruling that Mr Melgen had overbilled the US government by nearly $9 million, according to the Politico news website.
Mr Menendez is a Cuban-American and one of the most senior Hispanic politicians in the United States who has played a central role in lobbying for immigration reform. He was first elected to the Senate in 2005 and was re-elected in 2012.
The last senator to be indicted, Alaska Republican Ted Stevens, did not resign after he was charged with failing to report gifts and services from an oil company in 2008. Mr Stevens lost his race for re-election that year, and his conviction was dismissed in 2009.
New Jersey has a long history of corruptions scandals, including the 1981 bribery conviction of the late Harrison Williams, a New Jersey senator who occupied the same seat as Mr Menendez, and was sentenced to three years in a Federal penitentiary for his crimes.
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Top Democrat Senator Robert Menendez indicted on corruption charges
The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, has been indicted in connection with an alleged bribery scheme.
Menendez, 61, and a friend, Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, were indicted Wednesday on one count of conspiracy, one count of violating the travel act, eight counts of bribery and three counts of honest services fraud. Menendez was also charged with one count of making false statements.
The indictment came after federal prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had investigated Menendez for years on suspicion of corruption.
Allegations in the indictment say that Menendez accepted close to $1 million worth of lavish gifts and campaign contributions from Melgen in exchange for using the power of his Senate office to influence ongoing Medicare billing disputes Melgen was involved in and to support the visa applications of several of Melgen's girlfriends.
Senator Menendez has repeatedly said that he is innocent of any wrongdoing and that he "is not going anywhere" - meaning he has no plans to resign from the Senate. Senate rules do not require him to step down unless he is convicted of the charges against him.
At a late afternoon news conference in his home state Wednesday, the New Jersey senator predicted he will be vindicated. He said he is "ready to fight" the corruption charges against him.
Menendez is scheduled to appear in court in Newark, New Jersey Thursday.
Differences with Obama
Menendez, a Cuban-American, served as Foreign Relations Committee chairman until January, when Republicans took majority control of the Senate. He is now the ranking Democrat on the committee and has taken a strong stand against President Barack Obama, a fellow Democrat, on some issues.
Menendez has been a vocal critic of a possible deal with Iran on nuclear weapons, and he also criticized the president for his unexpected policy of relaxing some restrictions on Cuba. But he has been a strong supporter of the president on immigration reform.
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US Senator Menendez Indicted for Corruption