I'm sure that this is all just an innocent coincidence and that no bribery ever occurred, as alleged by the Department of Justice. I mean, who doesn't keep $150,000 of gold bars lying around their house? There's absolutely nothing shady here, folks. Now move along.

Like Trump, Senator Menendez does not seem to believe he can ever be convicted in a court of law. However, reality might disabuse him of this notion in 2024.

Source: NBC News

Four gold bars connected to the FBI search of Sen. Bob Menendez’s home have direct links to a New Jersey businessman now accused of bribing Menendez, the state’s senior senator, Bergen County prosecutor’s records from a 2013 robbery case show.

The businessman, Fred Daibes, reported to police that he was the victim of an armed robbery in 2013, and he asked police to recover the gold bars stolen from him. Daibes reported that $500,000 in cash and 22 gold bars were stolen, Edgewater, New Jersey, police records show. Police later caught four people with the stolen goods.

To get his property back, Daibes signed “property release forms” certifying the gold bars belonged to him, the records show.

“Each gold bar has its own serial number,” Daibes told investigators in a 2013 transcript made by prosecutors and police who recovered — and returned to Daibes — the stolen valuables. “They’re all stamped…you’ll never see two stamped the same way.”

In the bribery indictment against Menendez and Daibes this year, prosecutors included photos of some of the alleged bribes found in the Clifton, New Jersey, home of Menendez and his wife, Nadine, including gold bars.