All fifteen Senate Republicans want the Judiciary Committee to be granted subpoena power to investigate allegations that U.S. Senator Bob Menendez sought to interfere with the state’s prosecution of Jose Uribe by contacting former Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and discussing the case personally.
An indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors on September 22 suggested that Menendez tried to make the charges against Uribe, now the senator’s co-defendant in a federal bribery scheme, go away.
The Justice Department said in the indictment that an official, later confirmed to be Grewal, told Menendez that the request was inappropriate and did not agree to intervene. But Uribe’s final plea agreement was more favorable resolution than the state had initially offered, prosecutors allege.
And Grewal, federal prosecutors claim, didn’t share with the team prosecuting Uribe that Menendez had approached him.
Grewal, now the director of enforcement for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, allegedly met with Menendez at the senator’s Newark office at least once.
In a letter sent to Senate President Nicholas Scutari this morning, the Senate Republicans want to hire a special counsel and launch an independent probe – an idea initially proposed by State Sen. Michael Testa, Jr. (R-Vineland).
“This is the right thing to do. The Attorney General’s Office is integral for seeking and providing justice for all New Jerseyans,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco. “It is the duty of the Legislature and this committee to maintain checks and balances and investigate allegations of corruption so that we can maintain the public trust.”
The full Senate must approve granting subpoena power to a legislative committee. That would require signoff from Scutari and buy-in from the committee chairman, Brian P. Stack.
Scutari declined to rule out granting the Republicans’ request.
“I’ll review it and give it due consideration,” he told the New Jersey Globe.
Senate Republicans said they have “no desire or intention to interfere” with the federal criminal investigation of Menendez, which U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, said is ongoing.
But the alleged involvement of Grewal, they said, “fall squarely within the jurisdiction of the New Jersey Legislature and its constitutional duty to investigate and enact any reforms that may prove necessary.”
“The indictment of Senator Menendez has dramatically shaken the faith of New Jersey residents in their government officials,” the GOP senators stated. “We trust that during these difficult times you and your colleagues in the Senate Democratic Caucus will join us in making every effort toward restoring confidence in our public institutions.”
Attorney General Matt Platkin, who was not in office during the alleged move to influence Grewal, has promised to open his own probe into the matter.
Federal prosecutors claim that Menendez contacted Grewal in January 2019 to influence the prosecution of Jose Uribe, a businessman, allegedly in exchange for purchasing a $60,000 Mercedes convertible for the senator’s wife, Nadine.