Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), who has faced four federal indictments on bribery charges, spent thousands of dollars in donor funds dining at a high-end steakhouse this year, the Daily Beast reported on Tuesday.
The embattled Democrat’s New Millennium Political Action Committee used campaign donations to cover his eight bills totaling $7,012.51 this year at Morton's Steakhouse in Washington, D.C., the senator’s latest campaign finance records show, according to the outlet.
Menendez shelled out thousands more from his donor funds at other restaurants, including $1,489.22 at three New Jersey eateries in January, $1,500.00 at Carmine’s Italian Restaurant in D.C. that same month, and $464.24 at the 116 Club near Capitol Hill on May 6.
Campaign finance lawyer Brett Kappel told the Daily Beast that Menendez may choose to continue putting some of his dining expenses on his campaign’s tab as the federal criteria for what qualifies as an official meeting are "very elastic."
The senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were charged in September with allegedly trading political favors to the Egyptian government and three businessmen for financial gains.
An FBI raid in September on the couple’s $1.2 million house found $480,000 in cash—"much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe"—along with gold bars worth around $100,000.
While Menendez has faced four federal indictments and bipartisan calls for him to resign from the Senate, his attorney Avi Weitzman defended him during his trial this month, calling Menendez "an American patriot."
"[Menendez] did not violate the law. Period. And the United States Attorney’s Office allegations otherwise [are] wrong. Dead wrong," Weitzman said in his opening statement. "Far from a bribe taker, Senator Menendez is a lifelong public servant."
Menendez’s lawyer also said the senator was not aware of the cash and gold bars in his closet and blamed his wife for "[keeping] him in the dark about what she was asking others to give her."
Nadine Menendez, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, is scheduled to have her first trial in July.