{UAH} GOING AFTER ALLAN BARIGYE THE FORUM BULY WITH HARD FACTS ->We will not attack his family but self with facts ->Part 532

Embattled Sen. Bob Menendez spent years helping developer and imam behind controversial ground zero mosque

By Isabel Vincent

Published Sep. 23, 2023, 6:34 p.m. ET

Embattled Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez spent years helping the controversial imam who tried to build a mosque at Ground Zero.AP

Sen. Robert Menendez spent years helping the Egyptian-American imam behind the controversial ground zero mosque — a plan the embattled Democrat later championed.

Menendez, 69, was indicted on federal bribery charges Friday, along with his wife, for schemes that allegedly benefited the government of Egypt and three New Jersey businessmen.

Starting in 1989, when the senator was the mayor of Union City, NJ, Menendez reportedly secured more than $2 million in public cash and loans for Egyptian-American imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

The funding was meant to renovate three low-income apartment buildings Rauf owned there, according to reports — buildings that, tenants complained, remained dilapidated for years after the money was received.

At the same time, Rauf was in business with developer Fred Daibes — the Menendez political benefactor who allegedly bribed him with gold bars and cash, and who was named as a Menendez co-defendant Friday.

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is under federal indictment for alleged corruption.AP

New Jersey developer Fred Daibes, a longtime Menendez ally, is accused of showering the senator with cash and gold bars for help with his business deals.AP

Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York say they found gold bars from Daibes in the home Menendez shares with his wife Nadine.Steven Hirsch

Rauf is not named in the federal indictment against Menendez and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

In 2010, when controversy erupted over Rauf’s plans to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center, Menendez cheered the proposed 13-story structure.

What we know about Bob Menendez's indictment

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is facing federal corruption charges related to an alleged years-long scheme.

Menendez allegedly accepted bribes, including gold bars, in exchange for helping three businessmen, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, and the country of Egypt, according to officials.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine, were charged with taking hundreds of thousands in bribes, according to a Manhattan federal indictment.

When the feds raided Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs home in June 2022, they found a 2019 Mercedes C-Class, at least 13 gold bars, and $566,000 in cash “stuffed in envelopes.” Another $70,000 in cash was found in Nadine’s safe deposit box. 

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were indicted on federal corruption charges.AP

The feds say Menendez also received mortgage payments and paid for a low-show or no-show job and home furnishings.

This isn’t the first time the 69-year-old Democrat is facing federal corruption charges. In 2015, Menendez was accused of taking gifts from Florida eye surgeon Salomon Melgen.

The “gifts” included a Paris vacation, flights on a private jet, and vacations at Melgen’s villa in the Dominican Republic.

“With the passions that are involved and the attempts by the Republicans to politicize it, there would never have been a good moment,” Menendez said in defense of his former ally’s project. “Sometimes leading is reminding our fellow citizens about what the Constitution is all about.”

Egyptian-American imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who tried to build a controversial mosque near the site of the World Trade Center, was a longtime business associate of Daibes and received public money from Menendez.REUTERS

Rauf’s prayer space, school and recreation center, which met with fierce opposition from many who lost family members in the attack on the twin towers, was never built. It was unclear if Menendez derived any personal benefit from his support of Rauf’s plans.

Calls and emails to Rauf were not returned on Saturday. Menendez did not return a request for comment. An attorney representing Daibes did not return a request for comment.

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