Adviser testifies about Menendez schemes to bully the press, blame the White House

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 13: Sen. Robert Menendez arrives for court on May 13, 2024 in New York City. Federal prosecutors accused Menendez and his wife of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes (Photo by Alex Kent/Getty Images)

A political operative kicked off the sixth week of Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal bribery trial in Manhattan by ripping back the curtain on the behind-the-scenes duplicity and media manipulation that observers have long suspected drive politics in New Jersey.

Michael Soliman was state director of Menendez’s Senate office for seven years, ran his 2012 re-election campaign, and served on and off as his political adviser until last fall.

Under questioning by prosecutor Daniel Richenthal, Soliman told jurors that he planted a false story in the press, coached Menendez on how to lie to people seeking political appointments, and vetted candidates for the senator with “optics” always driving his advice and actions.

“It was my job to protect the senator, so I just cared about his optics,” said Soliman, a partner at Mercury Public Affairs.

Tuesday’s questioning focused on just one part of the wide-ranging corruption scheme that has kept New Jersey’s senior senator and co-defendants Fred Daibes and Wael Hana in court almost daily since mid-May — the senator’s alleged attempt to squash the U.S. Attorney’s bank fraud prosecution of his friend Daibes, an Edgewater real estate developer and bank founder. Prosecutors say Daibes paid Menendez in cash and gold bars for his influence.

U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger testified last week that Menendez promised in 2020 to recommend him as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor. But the senator dropped him and chose another candidate, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez, after Sellinger told Menendez that if he became U.S. attorney, he’d have to alert his new bosses that he once handled a case in which Daibes was an “adverse party,” a potential conflict of interest warranting his recusal.

Tuesday, Soliman spilled all sorts of secrets about the power of politics in who snags the top jobs in New Jersey. After Menendez asked him to vet Suarez, Soliman reported his findings in a text to the senator: “She is a Stack person but also viewed as an ally to Donald, since she used to work at his firm. Also Sacco signed off on her because she agreed to take on Ralph Lamparello’s wife as her top aide.”

Stack is state Sen. Brian Stack; Donald is attorney Donald Scarinci, a childhood friend of Menendez; Sacco is former state Sen. Nicholas Sacco; and Ralph Lamparello is a past president of the New Jersey State Bar Association and a powerful Hudson County insider.

Suarez’s candidacy drew media scrutiny quickly, largely focused on her controversial decision not to prosecute a campaign staffer for Gov. Phil Murphy who had been accused of rape. When a Star-Ledger editor reached out to Soliman with questions critical of Suarez’s candidacy, Soliman alerted Menendez, texting him that Suarez’s lawyer planned to send a letter threatening the outlet, which published a column anyway.

When New Jersey Globe editor David Wildstein told Soliman he planned to do a story on the U.S. attorney candidates, Soliman said he and Menendez had several concerns. They worried Suarez would be seen as a diversity hire, a “hot button” issue they wanted to avoid before the election, Soliman testified. And they wanted to divert attention from Suarez, whose negative publicity they worried could taint Menendez, he added.

“Please try and delay” the story, the senator urged Soliman in a text sent on the encrypted app Signal.

Wildstein agreed to wait, Soliman said, but asked again the next month, after then-U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito’s resignation left the job open. Soliman told jurors he gave Wildstein a list of candidates he said Menendez was considering for the job, including Jamel Semper, a prominent attorney the Black clergy subsequently championed and who later became a federal judge.

But the story that Menendez and Sen. Cory Booker were eyeing more than two candidates was wholly false, Soliman testified.

Menendez never considered recommending anyone but Sellinger and then Suarez for the job, even though the White House requested at least three candidates, Soliman said.

When the candidates followed up with Menendez to inquire about their chances, Soliman told jurors that he and the senator strategized what lies would best appease them — and blamed the White House for not picking them.

When the negative publicity dogging Suarez did not die down, Menendez began plotting “a Plan B,” he wrote in a text to Soliman that was presented to jurors.

About that time, Sellinger and Soliman talked again, Soliman testified.

Sellinger told Soliman he’d talked to his new bosses and didn’t have to recuse himself, Soliman said. That contradicts what Sellinger testified last Wednesday.

After the White House dropped Suarez as a potential U.S. attorney, Menendez again recommended Sellinger, who got the job — and told his bosses on his first day of potential conflicts in four cases. They ordered him recused from three, including Daibes’.

Menendez was “confused” and asked Soliman to find out why Sellinger had been recused from Daibes’ case after supposedly telling Soliman that he wouldn’t be recused, Soliman testified. But Soliman told jurors he never asked Sellinger about Daibes when the men met for lunch. That’s because Sellinger warned him he’d have to report Soliman to the Department of Justice if he inquired about any ongoing criminal matters, Soliman testified.

The day began with Menendez attorney Avi Weitzman cross-examining Sellinger, who conceded that Menendez never asked him or pressured him to resolve the Daibes matter in any particular way.

“He didn’t say that your recommendation to be the next U.S. attorney was in any way conditioned on decisions you would make in the Daibes case?” Weitzman asked.

“No,” Sellinger responded.

Testimony is expected to continue Thursday morning in Manhattan, with an FBI agent scheduled to share more evidence. Prosecutors expect to wrap up their case by next Tuesday, and defense attorneys told Judge Sidney H. Stein they expect to take up to two weeks to present their side of the case.

This story has been updated to correct the year Michael Soliman referenced in running Sen. Menendez’s re–election campaign.

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