NANCY SOLOMON: On New Year's Eve 2017, life was looking up for Senator Bob Menendez. 

Tracey Tully: He had just finished another trial on bribery charges. Hung jury. 

NANCY SOLOMON: Tracey Tully is the New York Times reporter I talked with in the last episode. She covers New Jersey. 

Tracey Tully: So he's free for the first time in many years because he'd been under investigation since 2015. 

NANCY SOLOMON: Menendez was also romantically free. His fiance had dumped him right before the 2017 trial. And a tall blonde woman he'd had his eye on sent him a text on New Year’s Eve.

Tracey Tully:  And you could see her, you know, trying to drum up a new relationship with this guy who's suddenly no longer charged with bribery.

NANCY SOLOMON: FIve years later, transcripts of these texts ended up as evidence in court. "In 4 1/2 hours it’s going to be your birthday," the message from Nadine Arslanian says. "I will text you happy birthday and I hope it’s going to be the best year ever for you and I would like to take you out to lunch for your birthday. I’m looking forward to catching up. Nadine.” The senator replied: “Would love to get together, but as I said once before I don’t want to interfere with your boyfriend.” A few weeks later, they appear to have resolved that issue. On February 2nd, they went out on a date to Acapella West, an upscale Italian restaurant in Jersey known for playing Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennet in heavy rotation. Nadine texted Bob just before midnight, “Thank you for a great night.” He replied, “Glad you’re home safe. Enjoyed your company. We’ll have to do it again!” Exclamation point. Pretty typical first date stuff. What came next was anything but. 

I'm Nancy Solomon. This is episode two of Dead End: The Rise and Fall of Gold Bar Bob Menendez. In three parts, we're telling a story of love and corruption that was surprising even by Jersey standards. A steamy romance, a powerful Senator, Egyptian spies and a crooked deal that traded a lucrative halal meat monopoly for U.S. military aid. 

And there’s the gold bars and stacks of cash stuffed into the senator's boots, jacket pockets and various shopping bags around the house. More than a half a million dollars worth. And it’s all planned out in texts and voicemails that were entered into evidence in court. Bob and Nadine Menendez, and their co-conspirators, were convicted of bribery and other charges. And the paper trail begins in February 2018, after that first date.

Tracey Tully: The sequence of events was frankly stunning.

NANCY SOLOMON: The day after her date with Menendez, Nadine met up with Will Hana. He’s an Egyptian-American businessman. Times reporter Tracey Tully would later dig into Hana’s background.

Tracey Tully: He's kind of a serial entrepreneur and he lost his house in Bayonne. He's got no money.

NANCY SOLOMON: Hana and Nadine were good friends, part of what could be called a lonely hearts club.

Tracey Tully: They go from restaurant to restaurant; on Tuesday it was this restaurant; on Wednesday it was that restaurant

NANCY SOLOMON: And so that afternoon after her first date with Menendez, they get together at one of their regular spots. And within a couple hours, while still with her friend, she texted the senator. “What is your international position?” Nine minutes later, Menendez replies: “I am the ranking member, which means senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."  Nadine’s friend, Will Hana, had been working on a new business idea. He wanted to become a major exporter of halal meat from the U.S. to Egypt. The Egyptian government controls which companies certify their meat imports as halal, the rules that Muslims use to butcher meat. It's like kosher, but it's halal. Will Hana was trying to get his halal certification business going.

Tracey Tully: It existed on paper, but it was making no money. And then enter Nadine.

NANCY SOLOMON: A connection to a powerful U.S. Senator had fallen into Hana’s lap.  In just a few short weeks, he dangled his new friend in the senate to contacts in the Egyptian government. Hana quickly figured out that they wanted help from Menendez with their military aid. Seventeen days after Nadine and Hana met up to talk about first date, Nadine texts Hana: “In case I can reach the senator, what was the title of the Egyptian man that we can meet in Washington.” He was an Egyptian general who is in charge of obtaining U.S. military aid. And before the short month of February was over, Nadine had arranged a meeting with the general and Menendez.

Nadine Arslanian (Voicemail): Hi, it's me, calling my very handsome senator. Uh, I have a favor to ask you. Hopefully you could do it, but, um, I just got off with the general. Since he has not met you before, he needs to have some kind of clearance from Egypt as to why he's meeting a U.S. senator out of the embassy. Is there any possible way that you can meet us at the embassy tomorrow, even if it's for 25 minutes?

NANCY SOLOMON: Bob Menendez’s political identity could always be traced back to growing up the son of Cuban immigrants. And he had a strong track record on human rights. When he began dating Nadine, he had been fighting for a decade to get the Senate to recognize the Armenian genocide of 1915. 

SENATOR MENENDEZ ON SENATE FLOOR:  Senator from New Jersey. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, we have just passed, the Armenian Genocide Resolution Recognition

NANCY SOLOMON: Nadine has a strong connection to this issue. She says 13 members of her extended family were killed.

PODCAST (The Armenian Report): Hello, everyone. This is Anna Kachikian from The Armenian Report. I recorded an exclusive interview with a very special woman …

NANCY SOLOMON: This is a podcast recorded in 2020. It’s a window into one aspect of Bob and Nadine’s relationship, a shared passion. 

PODCAST (The Armenian Report): Her name is Nadine Arslanian. She is the fiance of Senator Bob Menendez. who went up on the Senate floor over and over and over again until the U. S. Senate recognized the Armenian Genocide. Yes, standing beside Senator Menendez was an Armenian woman championing him. Please introduce yourself. Who is Nadine? 

Nadine Arslanian on podcast: Both my parents are Armenian. I was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and during the Civil War, we fled Lebanon to Greece to London and …

NANCY SOLOMON: Nadine was a stay at home mom, raising her kids in Englewood cliffs, New Jersey, and she liked … a certain lifestyle. She drove her kids to a private French school in Manhattan – and she’d been spotted with cast members of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.  By the time she met Bob Menendez, she was long divorced and by all accounts, they both fell hard and fast for each other.

Nadine Arslanian (Voicemail): I just wanted to hear your voice, and maybe if you got a break, give me a call. I love you, mon amor cest la vie. I can't wait for you to hold my hand and go to sleep.

NANCY SOLOMON: Twenty months after they began dating, Bob took Nadine on a trip to the Taj Mahal. With the massive white marble mausoleum as a backdrop, he launched into what he loves best: a serenade. 

Bob Menendez: And it'll never be enough never be enough Never be enough for me.  

NANCY SOLOMON: Then he pulled a ring out of his pocket and sat down on the bench next to her.

Nadine Arslanian: Oh my God! Wow! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh wow! Oh! 

NANCY SOLOMON: Look it up on youtube. The Cinderrella-esque scene was a complete  turnaround for Nadine. Let’s return to 2018 when they first began dating. She had fallen on hard times. Her divorce had left her close to bankruptcy. Her house in Englewood Cliffs was in foreclosure. And after raising her two kids, she didn't have a career, or work history. In the texts sent two days after her first date with Menendez, she and a friend discussed the fact that this new connection could result in a good job. So things were looking up. But then, at the end of 2018, Nadine faced a new problem.  

SFX: sirens

NANCY SOLOMON: We’ll come back to that after the break.

In December 2018, Nadine was driving through the Bergen County town of Bogota, near its border with Teaneck. It was 7:35 at night. A surveillance camera recorded her Mercedes as she slammed into a pedestrian, a large man who flew through the air like a rag doll, hitting her windshield and landing on the pavement beside the curb. Nadine stopped the car but stayed inside. The surveillance video showed her in her car for a minute and 15 seconds, while 49-year-old Richard Koop lay there, lifeless at the side of the road. Then she slowly drives out of frame. About two minutes later, a man runs up, directs traffic away from the lifeless body, and appears to call 911.

Hey Ray, can you take Maine and Powell? 

NANCY SOLOMON: Dashcam video recorded a police interview with Nadine, who remained at the scene. She’s wearing a black cocktail dress and a light jacket and she looks cold. 

That’s your statement–that you were driving this way. The guy came from this way and he ran into your vehicle. He jumped on my windshield. Okay. Okay.

NANCY SOLOMON: Moments later, a retired cop arrives and introduces himself to the police. 

How we doing? You're, uh, retired he said? Yes. From where? Hackensack. Ah, okay. Alright. 

NANCY SOLOMON: That's Mike Mordaga, a former Bergen County detective.  He told the officers he had been asked to come to the scene by a friend of Nadine's. 

I do not Uh, she's not under, I don't even know – that’s my buddy's wife, who's friends with her, and he said could you do me a favor and take her up there because her friend just got in a car accident. Gotcha. So I don't even know if it's somebody. Yeah, it's just an investigation, but due to the nature of that. That's no problem. She's not under, none of that. I fully follow you. You have my ID?

NANCY SOLOMON: Nadine wasn't tested for alcohol, didn't turn over her phone and was never asked by the police why she waited so long in her car after hitting Richard Koop, without calling 911 or offering aid. Her attorney later told the New York Times that she “was not at fault, did not violate any laws and was therefore not charged with any crimes.” No citation was ever issued, and the only problem she faced was with her car.

Voicemail tape: Hi, Nadine, this is Mariah giving you a call from Progressive. Calling to touch base with you, um, on your vehicle. It is deemed a total loss …

NANCY SOLOMON: But Nadine didn’t wait for an insurance settlement from Progressive. She had a new friend – through  Will Hana (the halal meat guy). Jose Uribe sells insurance and he was facing legal trouble. Will Hana had known Uribe for about a decade. Hana heard about his problems, and told him he could introduce him to someone very powerful, for a price. Ultimately, Jose Uribe purchased a new Mercedes convertible for Nadine.

Nadine Arslanian Voicemail: Hi, Jose. It's Nadine again.. So, uh, but thank you very much. I will go with Bob and look at the car I guess, maybe Saturday …

NANCY SOLOMON: Uribe was charged in the bribery case, pled guilty, and testified against the Menendezes in exchange for a lighter sentence. He told the court that after he purchased the Mercedes for the couple, he finally got the meeting he had been asking for. It was late in the evening, and Nadine arranged for him to drop by. He sat down with the Senator on the back patio.

Tracey Tully: He describes a moment where Menendez, apparently, there's a bell sitting on the table and he tinkles the bell. 

NANCY SOLOMON: Tracy Tully, is the the Times reporter who covered the trial. 

Tracey Tully: And she comes out from the house in response to his bell ringing. And he asked her to bring, somebody asked her to bring a piece of paper out and she does this. And on it, Jose writes down the people that he's hoping you know, to get favors for, for those criminal charges. 

NANCY SOLOMON: Soon after, Menendez invited the state attorney general to come speak with him at his office about the Uribe case. The former AG testified that he rebuffed the effort from Menendez to drop the investigation of Uribe’s business partners. Uribe’s testimony about the patio meeting was a dramatic moment during the trial.

Nancy Solomon on tape: I wonder if the bell kind of became a symbol of kind of like this imperious guy – like somehow it was like a window into who Menendez is that he rang a little bell to summon her.

Tracey Tully: I think that's how it came across. I think the most damning element of that was not so much that Menendez was imperious, to use your words. Their whole defense was she, his girlfriend and then wife, was doing things that he was unaware of. She kept the gold, she kept much of the money in her locked bedroom closet. He was unaware of this. But what the bell, to the jurors, I believe, probably sent the message was you're trying to make the claim that she has so much agency that she's, she's the mastermind of this scheme and she's working behind the senator's back. Now this is a very accomplished man. He's reached the heights of power in D.C. Yet he's unaware of something going on in his own house. But then when you see the dynamic of their relationship, which is that he is summoning her with a bell. That, I believe, was like, whoa.

NANCY SOLOMON: But the little bell and the brand new Mercedes are actually a fairly minor part of the case against Bob and Nadine Menendez. The heart of it centers on the deal trading a halal meat monopoly for US military aid. Before Nadine introduced Will Hana to the senator, there were four companies that certified halal meat exports from the U.S. to Egypt. It's a huge market for the American beef industry. For example, nearly 70 percent of the total beef liver supply from the U.S. had been going to Egypt – more than 50-thousand metric tons a year. Just for beef liver. And all meat imported to Egypt must be certified as halal. So, Hana -- the up-till-now unsuccessful businessman -- gets the contract, replacing all the other companies, giving him a monopoly. The money starts to roll in – there’s no exact figure that’s been made public but it’s easily in the millions. Around the same time, the texts and voicemails show a series of meetings that Senator Menendez holds with Egyptian officials, organized not by his staff, but by Nadine. And ultimately, he releases the hold on the military aid. To understand this part of the scheme, I called Josh Paul, who testified in the bribery trial. Paul worked at the state department for twelve years as a director in the Bureau of Political Military Affairs.

Josh Paul: That is the part of the State Department that is responsible for America's defense diplomacy, as we call it, which includes U.S. security assistance and arms transfers to countries around the world. 

Nancy Solomon on tape: You must have dealt with several chairs of the foreign relations committee. What did you think of him as a chair? 

Josh Paul: I found, um, so let me back up: interesting factoid, uh, I was actually living in New Jersey when I came of voting age, uh, and Senator Menendez was the very first at the time U.S. member of the House for whom I voted. That was back in 1996. 

NANCY SOLOMON: I know Paul doesn't sound like he's from New Jersey. He spent some of his childhood in London. Ok, back to Menendez.

Josh Paul: Um, in my experience and in a number of meetings with him, I found him to be very sharp, very intelligent, a deep understanding of the policies involved and the politics involved. I did think that he could be a bit of a bully sometimes.

Nancy Solomon on tape: I thought your testimony was really interesting about, sort of the power that the chair holds. You know and it's often just reduced to a little clause in a sentence in a news news article, like the powerful chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But, so explain that power, how much power did Menendez have as chair? 

Josh Paul: The chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, uh, if they communicate that they do not want an arms sale to go forward, essentially are the only voice in Congress, uh, along with their counterpart on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who can stop it from happening, and typically the State Department will respect that request not to move forward because, if we ignore it, if we move forward, despite a request from, the chair of a committee not to move forward with a major arms sale, they can impose consequences. Of course, the same committee that oversees arms sales is also responsible, for example, for confirming U.S. ambassadors, confirming senior state department officials. And it would not be unheard of, for an aggrieved, uh, chair of a committee to say, we're not going to advance those nominations. 

NANCY SOLOMON: This brings us to the crux of the bribery scheme. Egypt is the second largest recipient of American military aid in the world. Menenedez had placed a hold on some of that assistance because he and other Senators said they were concerned about Egyptian human rights violations. But then, in 2019, when he was not the chair but the ranking member, the top Democrat on the committee, Menendez released the hold without discussing it with Josh Paul -- the guy who coordinates these deals. 

Josh Paul: You don't know why a senator is placing a hold or lifting a hold unless their staff communicate the reason to you. And in normal circumstances, there would be a reason, and, we would pass back questions of why is there a hold, what can we do to get it lifted? But no response, and then suddenly, poof, the hold goes away.  

Nancy Solomon on tape: Hmm. And how unusual is that? 

Josh Paul: So, again, that's pretty unusual. Typically when a senator places a hold, or a house member places a hold, on an arm sale, it is for a reason. That reason is clear, because the intent of placing the hold is to get us to address the underlying concerns that led to the hold in the first place.

NANCY SOLOMON: Paul wasn't the only Washington official who thought Menendez was acting strangely. Top people at the U.S. Department of Agriculture tried to stop the halal meat monopoly going to Will Hana. And staff who worked for Menendez were finding his handling of Egyptian relations, including Nadine’s involvement in his official trip to Egypt, well, "weird" according to texts they sent to each other that were later introduced into court. Someone seems to have convinced the FBI to take a look, because just as the whole scheme began to ramp up, unbeknownst to Bob and Nadine Menendez, it was also starting to unravel. 

On the next episode of Dead End: The Rise and Fall of Gold Bar Bob Menendez, we'll look at how the love birds got caught, and what they're trying to do to get out of prison. 

Nancy Solomon on tape: What do you think about the possibility that Donald Trump may pardon Menendez? 

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy: He has had a habit of pardoning people who have violated anti-corruption laws, whether they're white collar crime, anti corruption laws, or campaign finance laws. 

NANCY SOLOMON: I’m Nancy Solomon. I made this series with Emily Botein, and Jared Paul, our sound designer and music composer. We had help from Alex Brady, Amber Bruce, Rex Doane, Katie Graham, David Krasnow, Mike Kutchman, Valentina Powers, and Jackson Vail. 

Thanks for listening. 

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