(ATLANTA) — The Georgia Court of Appeals, in a ruling involving Donald Trump’s Georgia election interference case, has scheduled oral arguments in Trump’s appeal of the Fani Willis disqualification decision for Dec. 5 — one month after the November presidential election.
The court had ordered a stay in the case pending the outcome of the appeal, which means the new hearing date pushes the case past the November election.
The appeal from Trump and his co-defendants seeks to overturn a lower court’s ruling that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case after she was found to have had a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who resigned as part of the judge’s order.
Willis has asked the court to dismiss Trump’s appeal on multiple grounds, including claiming there is a “lack of sufficient evidence” to support a reversal of the lower court’s ruling.
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Four defendants subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
The former president has denied all charges and has criticized the district attorney’s investigation as being politically motivated.
(NEW YORK) — A Georgian national has been indicted for allegedly planning a mass casualty attack on Jews and racial minorities in New York City, as well as encouraging others to commit similar violent acts.
Michail Chkhikvishvili — who calls himself “Commander Butcher” — is leader of the violent white supremacist group known as the Maniac Murder Cult, according to federal prosecutors.
Chkhikvishvili, 20, is accused of hatching a plot that involved dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out poison-laced candy to children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn, as well as to racial minorities.
He was arrested July 6 in Moldova, and has been charged with soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence.
Since September 2021, according to a federal indictment, Chkhikvishvili distributed a manifesto called the “Hater’s Handbook,” in which he stated that he has “murdered for the white race” and encouraged readers to commit violent mass “terror attacks” to promote “ethnic cleansing,” particularly within the U.S.
The handbook allegedly suggested readers commit school shootings and suicide bombings, and recommended targeting “large outdoor festivals, conventions, celebrations and parades” and “pedestrian congested streets.”
Chkhikvishvili is accused of soliciting others, primarily through encrypted messaging platforms, to carry out violent hate crimes on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult, including providing instructions for making bombs and Molotov cocktails.
One of the people he allegedly communicated with was an undercover FBI agent, who posed as a prospective member of the group.
In September 2023, the agent asked how he could apply to join the group, according to the indictment. Chkhikvishvili allegedly replied that they “ask people for brutal beating, arson/explosion or murder vids on camera,” and stated that “[p]oisoning and arson are best options for murder.”
For the candy attack, Chkhikvishvili allegedly gave the undercover agent detailed instructions for how to make deadly poisons by extracting ricin from castor beans.
Chkhikvishvili said the attack would be a “bigger action than Breivik,” according to the indictment, referring to Anders Behring Breivik, a right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in a bombing and mass shooting in Norway in 2011.
Chkhikvishvili, who visited his grandmother in Brooklyn in June 2022, allegedly claimed to have committed hate crimes while there. He also allegedly said he was “glad I have murdered,” and that he would “murder more” but “make others murder first.”
“As alleged, the defendant sought to recruit others to commit violent attacks and killings in furtherance of his Neo-Nazi ideologies,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “His goal was to spread hatred, fear and destruction by encouraging bombings, arson and even poisoning children, for the purpose of harming racial minorities, the Jewish community and homeless individuals.”
(WASHINGTON) — With Sen. Bob Menendez having been found guilty by a jury, calls for him to resign are coming from the highest levels, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
But Menendez, at least for the time being, continues to hold his position as New Jersey’s senior senator.
Here’s what we know about what might happen to Sen. Menendez’s Senate seat.
Not required to resign There’s no law that says Menendez cannot serve in the Senate despite a guilty conviction.
He can technically continue to serve until he is up for reelection if he so chooses not to step aside.
It was not immediately clear whether Menendez, who is currently running to reclaim his seat as an independent, will heed calls from fhis fellow New Jersey lawmakers and Senate leaders to resign.
If he chooses to hold on to his seat, the Senate does have a constitutionally-mandated option on disciplining its members: expulsion.
Expelling Menendez would require a vote of two thirds of the Senate. A senator would need to bring forward a resolution to expel him and then work it through the floor process. It’s unclear if there would be the votes necessary to expel him at this time.
Some Democratic senators are opening the door to an expulsion vote, however.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., for example, said in a post on X that Menendez should “resign or face expulsion from the Senate.”
If the Senate did manage to successfully expel Menendez, it would be truly historic. Only 21 members of Congress have ever been expelled and the Senate has expelled only 15 members. Fourteen of them were expelled during the Civil War for supporting the Confederacy.
There have been other instances when expulsion was considered, but the Senate either dropped the matter or the member left office before a vote. The last case of a senator being formally expelled from the upper chamber happerned in 1862.
Six House members have been expelled: Three of them were expelled for supporting the Confederacy, two of them Democrats. Rep. George Santos, who was booted from his House seat in December, made history as the first Republican House member to be expelled.
Menendez already voluntarily gave up his position as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in September. It’s unclear what if any security clearances Menendez currently holds, but his conviction could affect his ability to hold a clearance.
If he resigns or is expelled, Governor Phil Murphy chooses his replacement Menendez is up for reelection this fall, so New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy would be responsible for appointing someone to temporarily fill the vacancy left by Menendez until his term expires.
Murphy issued a statement shortly after the jury announced its verdict in Menendez’s case reiterating his calls for Menendez to resign and calling on the Senate to act if he does not.
“I reiterate my call for Senator Menendez to resign immediately after being found guilty of endangering national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system,” Murphy said. “If he refuses to vacate his office, I call on the U.S. Senate to vote to expel him. In the event of a vacancy, I will exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to ensure the people of New Jersey have the representation they deserve.”
The already-scheduled election would go forward as usual this November to select a new permanent replacement for Menendez who would then be installed in January.
The second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee gets underway Tuesday afternoon after a dramatic appearance Monday night by the party’s new nominee — former President Donald Trump — wearing a bandage on his ear where he was wounded in an assassination attempt two days before.
Among the featured speakers — a late add — will be Trump’s former primary rival — former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who once called Trump a “catastrophe.” She now is expected to stress Trump’s new theme of “unity.”
Vance walks RNC floor with Don Jr. JD Vance returned to the RNC convention Tuesday afternoon and walked the floor.
He was accompanied by Donald Trump Jr., but did not answer shouted questions from the press.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Trump meets with Boris Johnson Trump posted an image on his social media platform on Tuesday posing with former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“Nice meeting with Former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, a very fine guy!” Trump posted.
It’s not clear if Johnson will be attending RNC events on Tuesday.
Trump senior advisor doubles down on Trump’s support for Second Amendment Former President Donald Trump campaign’s senior adviser Chris LaCivita spoke at a panel hosted by pro-Second Amendment group USCCA on Tuesday morning updating the crowd about Trump’s recovery and message of unity.
LaCivita said both Trump and himself are supporters of the Second Amendment and reiterated the former president’s messaging has always been to allow law-abiding citizens the ability to carry firearms to protect themselves and their families.
“It’s also really important in this election, because Biden has made it clear he wants to ban them,” LaCivita said. “There are so many things that you can do to curb the problem of individuals as opposed to trying to ban what is clearly… a right.”
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa and Soorin Kim
Trump, Vance to hold campaign rally in Michigan Trump’s campaign announced that he and JD Vance will be holding a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday.
This will mark their first rally together and the first one after Trump’s assassination attempt. The rally will take place in an indoor venue.
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa and Soorin Kim
There’s Trump merchandise galore at RNC Merchandise abounds outside of the convention center, with official RNC-branded souvenirs sold inside the Fiserv Forum. The signature red “MAGA” hat is sold at all of them, but all of the vendors have slightly different stock.
A vendor outside of the main security line was selling shirts with the now-iconic photo after the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, while another inside of the security perimeter sold T-shirts that declared “I’m voting for the felon.”
The official RNC store features T-shirts with Trump’s mugshot along with more niche merchandise such as Christmas ornaments.
-ABC News’ Diana Paulsen
Ramaswamy says ‘national unity is important,’ will be focus of his speech tonight Vivek Ramaswamy, a high-profile businessman and former 2024 Republican presidential primary candidate, told reporters in a brief gaggle on Tuesday morning that he plans on striking themes of unity during his remarks he’s set to give on Tuesday night at the convention’s main session.
Ramaswamy said his focus on national unity might come as a surprise to some viewers and listeners.
“It may not be the message that everyone expects to hear from me, but I do think that this message of national unity is important,” he said.
He added that he strives for an “authentic” version of unity.
“I don’t want to fake national unity — not some astroturf, artificial kind — but the real thing. Authentic national unity, not one that pretends that we agree on everything, because we don’t. But that we are the country where we can still disagree like hell and still have dinner at the end of it.”
-ABC News’ Steven Portnoy
2024 issues Wisconsin voters said they care about the most
Wisconsin voters spoke with ABC News about what issues matter most to them this election as the RNC happens in their backyard. They include inflation, border, health care and democracy.
Republican voter Valori Schmidt, 68 and a retired teacher, said the border mattered most to her.
“We cannot sustain America on this massive influx of immigrants,” she said. “And then they’re everywhere that we don’t know. I want — I love the American dream. I love immigration coming in the correct door, the correct way.”
-ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler
Trump elevates an ally in JD Vance and sets the course of the GOP’s future: ANALYSIS
Former President Donald Trump pick of Sen. J.D. Vance as his vice president is helping set the course of the Republican Party’s future.
With the selection of Vance as his running mate, it give the first-term senator a massive platform to help steer the party at the end of a hypothetical Trump term in 2029 — and even a leg up if he were to then seek the top job himself.
“Trump wants to make sure MAGA outlives him,” said Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor, referencing the “Make America Great Again” mantra that the former president popularized. “I think that was a big part of the choice.”
-ABC News’ Tal Axelrod
Liz Cheney blasts Trump’s pick of JD Vance as VP
Former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, one of Donald Trump’s most vocal critics, is blasting his selection of J.D. Vance as his pick for vice president in a post on X — slamming his stance on the 2020 election and contrasting it with that of Trump’s former running mate Mike Pence.
She said with Vance on the ticket, the Republican Party is no longer one of “Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution.”
“JD Vance has pledged he would do what Mike Pence wouldn’t – overturn an election and illegally seize power. He says the president can ignore the rulings of our courts. He would capitulate to Russia and sacrifice the freedom of our allies in Ukraine. The Trump GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution,” Cheney wrote.
Her post quoted a earlier post she wrote in February in which she claimed “Neither Trump nor Vance is fit to serve.”
“Yesterday, @JDVance1 claimed that Trump could defy rulings of the Supreme Court as President. Vance also admitted he would have done what VP Pence refused to do on January 6th—help Trump illegally seize power. That’s tyranny. Neither Trump nor Vance is fit to serve.,” Cheney wrote then.
-ABC’s Isabella Murray
Nikki Haley among tonight’s featured speakers as GOP stresses ‘unity’
Following a memorable day with former President Donald Trump selecting Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, the convention is off to a rolling start. Tuesday’s theme is “Make America Safe Again” and speakers will focus on crime, fentanyl, and illegal immigration.
As the Trump campaign tries to capitalize on Trump’s new message of “unity,” Nikki Haley, Trump’s former bitter primary rival, will speak. Originally, Haley was not offered a slot, but was added the day after the attempted assassination> of Trump Saturday at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Secret Service in recent weeks had increased Donald Trump’s security detail due to intelligence indicating there was an Iranian threat to assassinate the former president, according to three officials familiar with the matter.
There is no indication the plot was related to the assassination attempt against the former president on Saturday.
The sources have suggested Iran has been making these types of threats since the assassination of Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.
CNN was first to report the increased detail.
“These accusations are baseless and biased,” according to the representation of Iran in the United States. “From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Trump is a criminal who should be tried and punished in court for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani.”
It added, “Iran has chosen the legal path to hold him accountable.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — With Amazon Prime Day in full swing, a report released this week by a Senate committee claims the two-day promotional event is a “major cause of injuries” for workers at the retailer’s warehouses.
The interim report from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) accuses Amazon of understaffing its warehouses during peak shopping periods, including Prime Day, and “endangering workers who have to manage increased volume without increased support.”
“Amazon warehouses are especially unsafe during Prime Day and the holiday season — and the company knows it,” the report states.
The Senate HELP Committee’s interim report, released Monday, is the result of a year-long investigation into safety protocols at Amazon’s warehouses. The committee said it’s the first time that internal Amazon data about warehouse injury rates, from the years 2019 and 2020, is being made public.
The investigation found nearly 45 out of every 100 warehouse workers — almost half — were injured during Amazon Prime Day in 2019.
That includes minor injuries such as bruises and cuts, as well as more serious injuries like torn rotator cuffs and concussions, according to the report.
“Amazon must be held accountable for the horrendous working conditions at its warehouses and substantially reduce its injury rates,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the committee chair and a fierce Amazon critic, said Tuesday in a statement.
In a statement to ABC News, Amazon strongly disputed the report’s findings.
“We’ve cooperated throughout this investigation, including providing thousands of pages of information and documents. But unfortunately, this report (which was not shared with us before publishing) ignores our progress and paints a one-sided, false narrative using only a fraction of the information we’ve provided. It draws sweeping and inaccurate conclusions based on unverified anecdotes, and it misrepresents documents that are several years old and contained factual errors and faulty analysis,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said.
“We carefully plan and staff up for major events, ensure that we have excess capacity across our network, and design our network so that orders are automatically routed to sites that can handle unexpected spikes in volume,” she added.
The HELP Committee’s report also accused the retail giant of under-recording warehouse injuries by refusing to refer workers to outside medical care — a claim Amazon denies.
In its statement, Amazon said it has reduced its recordable incident rate (anything that requires more than basic first aid) in the United States by 28% and significant injuries by 75% since 2019.
Amazon brought in a record $12.7 billion in sales over the two days of its Prime Day event in 2023, according to Adobe Analytics.
The information released Monday comes as part of an ongoing investigation into Amazon’s warehouse safety practices that Sanders launched last June.
Sanders at the time sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, which alleged that Amazon’s “quest for profits at all costs has led to unsafe physical environments, intense pressure to work at unsustainable rates, and inadequate medical attention for tens of thousands of Amazon workers every year.”
At the time, Sanders opened a portal to call for Amazon workers to submit their stories about their time at the company to help in investigations.
(NEW YORK) — Two years after the launch of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 10 million contacts have been answered, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
“That’s 10 million people who, often on the worst day of their life, had a resource to reach out to,” Hannah Wesolowski, chief advocacy officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, told ABC News.
Prior to the launch of the three-digit number, the services provided by 988 were available through the 10-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which had been active since 2005.
“In its first year, [the 10-digit Lifeline] served about 45,000 people, and to think that we serve that many people in less than a week now is sort of mind-boggling,” Dr. Tia Dole, chief 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline officer for the lifeline’s administrator, Vibrant Emotional Health, told ABC News.
In the months leading up to the launch of the new number in 2022, advocates were concerned that funding and staffing issues would hamper the lifeline’s ability to serve what was expected to be a dramatic increase in call volume.
The latest available data from SAMHSA shows nationwide answer rates of 88% for calls, 83% of chats and 97% of texts for the month of May.
“The average call is 14 minutes. To me, that type of impact is so significant,” Dole said. “[With 988,] you don’t need insurance, you don’t need to say who you are — and the person on the other end of the line instantly has empathy for you.”
Funding helps meet demands
Despite still imperfect answer rates, some advocates tell ABC News that robust levels of federal and state funding have helped increase capacity to largely meet demand.
“We’re two years into a system that needed massive infrastructure investment, new ways of thinking, new ways of partnering with other systems,” Wesolowski said. “We always knew that [building out crisis care] was going to take many years, and if we waited for it to be perfect, we never would have gotten it off the ground.”
The Biden administration funneled $1.5 billion into standing up the 988 Lifeline network, much of that ahead of the launch in 2022, to help address capacity concerns.
“It’s been just such a priority for the administration to really invest heavily in the [988] Suicide & Crisis Lifeline,” SAMHSA Administrator Dr. Miriam Delphin-Rittmon told ABC News. “There’s been $1.5 billion that has been invested into 988, as part of this comprehensive strategy to address the nation’s overall behavioral health.”
Building a sustainable funding future
In the midst of a contentious political cycle, Wesolowski said she’s “hopeful” that the outcome of the presidential election won’t substantially impact federal investment in the service — noting that former President Donald Trump was the one who signed the bill that designated 988 as the lifeline in 2020.
“We have seen even in the change of control of the House, [a] split Congress, that there’s still a pretty strong interest in funding this resource. We saw a modest increase [in funding] this past fiscal year, about $18 million more to 988, but in an environment where a lot of programs are being cut, that’s pretty good,” she said. “There’s strong bipartisan support.”
Delphin-Rittmon said that many states have been working with the federal government on building out the crisis care system, making state-level investments to help fund 988 and related services.
So far, nine states have enacted a 988 lifeline cell phone tax, similar to the tax in place to fund 911 call centers, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, and several others have allocated appropriations to fund the service.
In Washington, one of the states with a 988 tax, Levi Van Dyke is the chief behavioral health officer for Volunteers of America Western Washington, which fields 988 calls, chats and texts across the state.
“Sustainable funding for 988 in Washington state is, maybe, different from other states. We are seemingly in a really good place with having that 988 fee and support,” Van Dyke told ABC News. “In talking with colleagues at centers around the country, I always feel very fortunate because we are in a good position as far as those resources.”
Subnetworks providing specialized services
Amid the buildout of the 988 system, the lifeline has also bolstered specialized services for veterans, Spanish speakers, LGBTQ youth, and people who are deaf and hard of hearing.
Dole said there aren’t currently plans to add another national subnetwork, saying that extending the interactive voice response at the beginning of a 988 call poses a challenge.
“The challenging part is extending the IVR [Interactive Voice Response] — press one, press two, press three, press four,” she said. “When you add additional wording to the message, you delay access to care. And what that does is increase the chance of abandonment, which is people clicking out.”
Back in Washington, the Native and Strong Lifeline enables callers to speak with Indigenous counselors who can offer culturally specific care to Indigenous people. The state-specific line was created in response to disproportionate rates of suicide among Native American communities.
Delphin-Rittmon told ABC News that SAMHSA has received interest from other states about creating a similar line and that those conversations are ongoing.
Van Dyke said the process to create the line in Washington was years long, requiring specialized staff and training, but that he would love to see it offered in other states.
“We’ve seen how impactful and how important it is to have this dedicated service, and we would love to see that service grow and expand outside of Washington state,” Van Dyke said.
Building awareness — and when to call
Dole said that while the service is called the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, “I actually think of 988 as preventative,” noting that you don’t have to be in active crisis to call.
“If you’re in a mental health emergency, absolutely call us,” Dole said. “But if you are really struggling, if you call us — the earlier you call us, the more likely that you can be connected to services that will prevent something that is an emergency.”
She said that 988 staff can connect callers to resources to help them deal with nonemergency mental health issues, and that they hope to help prevent crises, as well as respond to them.
“988 is certainly for people in crisis, and it is certainly for people before they get into crisis, and their loved ones and their family,” she said.
Delphin-Rittmon echoed the sentiment, telling ABC News, “If people are struggling, it’s important for them to know that they’re not alone, that we are here to help. There’s compassionate, trained counselors available, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to help them with any type of mental health, substance use or suicide-related crisis.”
Looking ahead, the advocates say they want 988 to be widely known as the number to call for people struggling with mental health issues.
“I want 988 to be as ubiquitous in our culture as 911,” Wesolowski said. “I want every young person to not even hesitate, to not even think — if they are struggling, if their friend is struggling, if their parent or sibling is struggling — to feel like 988 is a natural place for them to reach out to and to know what they’re going to get when they reach out.”
If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises, or are worried about a friend or loved one, please call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.
(NEW YORK) — Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty on all counts Tuesday in his federal corruption trial.
Federal prosecutors in New York alleged the New Jersey Democrat accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, mortgage payments and more in exchange for the senator’s political clout. Three New Jersey businessmen who were also charged, along with the governments of Egypt and Qatar, were the alleged recipients. Two of those co-defendants, Wael Hanna and Fred Daibes, were also convicted of all counts they faced.
The jury deliberated for about 13 hours over three days.
Menendez pleaded not guilty to 16 federal charges including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction.
Prosecutors claimed Menendez, 70, “put his power up for sale” in exchange for the gold, envelopes stuffed with money, checks to his wife for a no-show job and a Mercedes-Benz convertible. The FBI found gold bars and more than $400,000 in cash stashed in places including jackets and shoes throughout his home, prosecutors said
“It wasn’t enough for him to be one of the most powerful people in Washington,” federal prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said during his closing argument on July 8. “Robert Menendez wanted all that power and he also wanted to use it to pile up riches for himself and his wife.”
The defense, meanwhile, maintained that all of the actions in the indictment fell within the scope of Menendez’s position and that prosecutors failed to prove he took any bribes.
During his closing argument, defense attorney Adam Fee mocked the government’s case as “cherry-picked nonsense” and accused prosecutors of “fudging” the facts.
“The only honest verdict I submit here is to acquit him on each count,” Fee told the jury on July 9. “His actions were lawful, normal and good for the country.”
Menendez declined to testify in his own defense. While leaving court after the defense rested its case on July 3, he told reporters, “From my perspective, the government has failed to prove every aspect of its case.”
He said he expected his lawyers to present a “convincing and powerful summation” and that the jury would find him not guilty.
Prosecutors told the jury that Menendez promised to use his power to help Egypt. According to the indictment, the arrangement was brokered by Hana, a New Jersey businessman and friend of Menendez’s wife, Nadine, who prosecutors said received the senator’s help preserving a halal meat monopoly.
Menendez was also accused of receiving a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for help disrupting a case by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
Prosecutors said that in the spring of 2019, another New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, who pleaded guilty in the case, handed Nadine $15,000 in cash that she used as a down payment for the car. She texted Menendez, “Congratulations. We are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes,” according to prosecutors. Uribe kept making the monthly payments, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors claimed the senator promised a third businessman, Daibes, that he would interfere with Daibes’ federal prosecution and help the government of Qatar by supporting a Senate resolution praising the country.
Daibes’ fingerprints were found on the envelopes of cash found at Menendez’s home and serial numbers on the gold bars traced them to Daibes and Hana, according to prosecutors.
During the two months of testimony, jurors heard his sister explain why Menendez was caught with wads of cash stuffed into his embroidered congressional jacket: “It’s a Cuban thing,” Caridad Gonzalez said.
The defense also told jurors that Menendez and his wife, who has also been charged in the case, led separate lives and she had financial concerns that she kept from her husband.
Daibes and Hana pleaded not guilty to their charges. Uribe pleaded guilty and testified against the three defendants during the trial.
Menendez’s wife has pleaded not guilty to her charges and will be tried separately in August due to a medical condition. She is battling Grade 3 breast cancer, the senator revealed in mid-May at the beginning of the trial.
Menendez, who has served as senator for New Jersey since 2006, is the first sitting member of Congress to be charged with conspiracy by a public official to act as a foreign agent.
In June, he filed a petition to get on the U.S. Senate ballot in New Jersey as an independent candidate.
He refused to resign, though he did step down as the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the initial indictment in September 2023.
This marked the second time the senator was charged with corruption. A 2015 indictment ended in a mistrial in 2018 after a jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts.
(NEW YORK) — Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty on all counts Tuesday in his federal corruption trial.
Federal prosecutors in New York alleged the New Jersey Democrat accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, mortgage payments and more in exchange for the senator’s political clout. Three New Jersey businessmen who were also charged, along with the governments of Egypt and Qatar, were the alleged recipients. Two of those co-defendants, Wael Hanna and Fred Daibes, were also convicted of all counts they faced.
The jury deliberated for about 13 hours over three days.
Menendez pleaded not guilty to 16 federal charges including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction.
Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer called for his resignation immediately after the verdict.
“In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” he said.
Menendez will be sentenced on Oct. 29 and faces decades in prison.
Prosecutors claimed Menendez, 70, “put his power up for sale” in exchange for the gold, envelopes stuffed with money, checks to his wife for a no-show job and a Mercedes-Benz convertible. The FBI found gold bars and more than $400,000 in cash stashed in places including jackets and shoes throughout his home, prosecutors said.
“It wasn’t enough for him to be one of the most powerful people in Washington,” federal prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said during his closing argument on July 8. “Robert Menendez wanted all that power and he also wanted to use it to pile up riches for himself and his wife.”
The defense, meanwhile, maintained that all of the actions in the indictment fell within the scope of Menendez’s position and that prosecutors failed to prove he took any bribes.
During his closing argument, defense attorney Adam Fee mocked the government’s case as “cherry-picked nonsense” and accused prosecutors of “fudging” the facts.
“The only honest verdict I submit here is to acquit him on each count,” Fee told the jury on July 9. “His actions were lawful, normal and good for the country.”
Menendez declined to testify in his own defense. While leaving court after the defense rested its case on July 3, he told reporters, “From my perspective, the government has failed to prove every aspect of its case.”
He said he expected his lawyers to present a “convincing and powerful summation” and that the jury would find him not guilty.
Prosecutors told the jury that Menendez promised to use his power to help Egypt. According to the indictment, the arrangement was brokered by Hana, a New Jersey businessman and friend of Menendez’s wife, Nadine, who prosecutors said received the senator’s help preserving a halal meat monopoly.
Menendez was also accused of receiving a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for help disrupting a case by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
Prosecutors said that in the spring of 2019, another New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, who pleaded guilty in the case, handed Nadine $15,000 in cash that she used as a down payment for the car. She texted Menendez, “Congratulations. We are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes,” according to prosecutors. Uribe kept making the monthly payments, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors claimed the senator promised a third businessman, Daibes, that he would interfere with Daibes’ federal prosecution and help the government of Qatar by supporting a Senate resolution praising the country.
Daibes’ fingerprints were found on the envelopes of cash found at Menendez’s home and serial numbers on the gold bars traced them to Daibes and Hana, according to prosecutors.
During the two months of testimony, jurors heard his sister explain why Menendez was caught with wads of cash stuffed into his embroidered congressional jacket: “It’s a Cuban thing,” Caridad Gonzalez said.
The defense also told jurors that Menendez and his wife, who has also been charged in the case, led separate lives and she had financial concerns that she kept from her husband.
Daibes and Hana pleaded not guilty to their charges. Uribe pleaded guilty and testified against the three defendants during the trial.
Menendez’s wife has pleaded not guilty to her charges and will be tried separately in August due to a medical condition. She is battling Grade 3 breast cancer, the senator revealed in mid-May at the beginning of the trial.
Menendez, who has served as senator for New Jersey since 2006, is the first sitting member of Congress to be charged with conspiracy by a public official to act as a foreign agent.
In June, he filed a petition to get on the U.S. Senate ballot in New Jersey as an independent candidate.
He refused to resign, though he did step down as the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the initial indictment in September 2023.
This marked the second time the senator was charged with corruption. A 2015 indictment ended in a mistrial in 2018 after a jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts.
The second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee gets underway Tuesday afternoon after a dramatic appearance Monday night by the party’s new nominee — former President Donald Trump — wearing a bandage on his ear where he was wounded in an assassination attempt two days before.
Among the featured speakers — a late add — will be Trump’s former primary rival — former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who once called Trump a “catastrophe.” She now is expected to stress Trump’s new theme of “unity.”
Ramaswamy says ‘national unity is important,’ will be focus of his speech tonight Vivek Ramaswamy, a high-profile businessman and former 2024 Republican presidential primary candidate, told reporters in a brief gaggle on Tuesday morning that he plans on striking themes of unity during his remarks he’s set to give on Tuesday night at the convention’s main session.
Ramaswamy said his focus on national unity might come as a surprise to some viewers and listeners.
“It may not be the message that everyone expects to hear from me, but I do think that this message of national unity is important,” he said.
He added that he strives for an “authentic” version of unity.
“I don’t want to fake national unity — not some astroturf, artificial kind — but the real thing. Authentic national unity, not one that pretends that we agree on everything, because we don’t. But that we are the country where we can still disagree like hell and still have dinner at the end of it.”
-ABC News’ Steven Portnoy
2024 issues Wisconsin voters said they care about the most
Wisconsin voters spoke with ABC News about what issues matter most to them this election as the RNC happens in their backyard. They include inflation, border, health care and democracy.
Republican voter Valori Schmidt, 68 and a retired teacher, said the border mattered most to her.
“We cannot sustain America on this massive influx of immigrants,” she said. “And then they’re everywhere that we don’t know. I want — I love the American dream. I love immigration coming in the correct door, the correct way.”
-ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler
Trump elevates an ally in JD Vance and sets the course of the GOP’s future: ANALYSIS
Former President Donald Trump pick of Sen. J.D. Vance as his vice president is helping set the course of the Republican Party’s future.
With the selection of Vance as his running mate, it give the first-term senator a massive platform to help steer the party at the end of a hypothetical Trump term in 2029 — and even a leg up if he were to then seek the top job himself.
“Trump wants to make sure MAGA outlives him,” said Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor, referencing the “Make America Great Again” mantra that the former president popularized. “I think that was a big part of the choice.”
-ABC News’ Tal Axelrod
Liz Cheney blasts Trump’s pick of JD Vance as VP
Former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, one of Donald Trump’s most vocal critics, is blasting his selection of J.D. Vance as his pick for vice president in a post on X — slamming his stance on the 2020 election and contrasting it with that of Trump’s former running mate Mike Pence.
She said with Vance on the ticket, the Republican Party is no longer one of “Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution.”
“JD Vance has pledged he would do what Mike Pence wouldn’t – overturn an election and illegally seize power. He says the president can ignore the rulings of our courts. He would capitulate to Russia and sacrifice the freedom of our allies in Ukraine. The Trump GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution,” Cheney wrote.
Her post quoted a earlier post she wrote in February in which she claimed “Neither Trump nor Vance is fit to serve.”
“Yesterday, @JDVance1 claimed that Trump could defy rulings of the Supreme Court as President. Vance also admitted he would have done what VP Pence refused to do on January 6th—help Trump illegally seize power. That’s tyranny. Neither Trump nor Vance is fit to serve.,” Cheney wrote then.
-ABC’s Isabella Murray
Nikki Haley among tonight’s featured speakers as GOP stresses ‘unity’
Following a memorable day with former President Donald Trump selecting Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, the convention is off to a rolling start. Tuesday’s theme is “Make America Safe Again” and speakers will focus on crime, fentanyl, and illegal immigration.
As the Trump campaign tries to capitalize on Trump’s new message of “unity,” Nikki Haley, Trump’s former bitter primary rival, will speak. Originally, Haley was not offered a slot, but was added the day after the attempted assassination> of Trump Saturday at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
