Menendez ties to Grewal necessitate Senate probe, Testa and Bucco say

Two Republican lawmakers are stepping calls for the legislature to investigate allegations that indicted U.S. Senator Bob Menendez tried to interfere with a state criminal prosecution by discussing the case directly with then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.

Statements by State Sen. Michael Testa (R-Vineland) and Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco follow a New Jersey Globe report of Grewal’s connection to Menendez through his cousin, Balpreet  Grewal-Virk, and nearly $40,000 in campaign contributions from Grewal’s family to Menendez.

“In light of recent revelations, there is a growing need for an independent investigation to begin sooner rather than later,” Bucco said.  “The matter is particularly time-sensitive because preservation letters need to be issued to the Attorney General’s Office as soon as possible. This will ensure that all documents and communications are preserved and that the Senate Judiciary Committee has full access to all relevant evidence.”

Testa and all of his Republican colleagues want the Senate to grant subpoena power to the Judiciary Committee so that it can initiate an independent probe.  Attorney General Matt Platkin has also launched an investigation, but the Department of Law and Public Safety is the only part of the executive branch with no independent inspector general.

The Justice Department alleges that Menendez called Grewal to influence the prosecution of businessman Jose Uribe, who is accused of purchasing a $60,000 Mercedes convertible for the senator’s wife, Nadine.  Both Uribe and Nadine Arslanian Menendez are the senator’s co-defendants.

Grewal left the attorney general’s post in 2021 to become Director of Enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Menendez is the chairman of the Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over the SEC.

“Growing concern that Senator Menendez used his influence to propel former Attorney General Grewal into his current post at the SEC is all the more reason that the Senate Judiciary Committee must immediately launch an investigation into the Senator’s contacts with the Office of Attorney General, like my Senate Republican colleagues and I have been calling for,” Testa stated.  “As details about this case unfold, the reported linkage between Menendez and the Grewal family raises serious questions that demand action from the Legislature.  Only through a comprehensive investigation can we restore confidence in our public institutions.”

Grewal-Virk is the vice chair of the Bergen County Democratic Organization.  She became politically active after her cousin became county prosecutor in 2016.  Friends of Grewal-Virk say she and her husband socialized with Bob and Nadine Menendez, and the two couples traveled together; she was with Menendez outside the Taj Mahal in India in 2020 when he proposed to his future wife.

Multiple sources confirmed that Gurbir Grewal had determinedly sought a high-level federal government post if Democrats took the White House in 2020, pushing for the position of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.

“New Jerseyans deserve answers to the many questions that are being raised about Senator Menendez and the Attorney General’s Office,” said Bucco.  “Only a proper independent investigation can reveal the truth about whether the Attorney General’s Office acted appropriately in this matter.”