Adviser testifies about Menendez press schemes

By: Dana DeFilippo
New Jersey Monitor

..... A political operative kicked off the sixth week of Senator Bob Menendez's federal bribery trail in Manhattan by ripping back the scrutiny on the behind-the-scenes duplicity and media manipulations that observers have long suspected drives politics in New Jersey.
..... Michael Soliman was state director of Menendez's Senate office for seven years, ran his 2013 reelection campaign and served on and off as his political adviser until last fall. [2023]
..... Under questioning by prosecutors Danial 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 [06/18/2024] 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 [2023] 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 [06/10-13/2024] 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 Ester Suarez, after Selliinger told Memendez that if he became U.S. attorney, he'd have to alert his new bosses that he once handed a case in which Daibes was an "adverse party," a potential conflict of interest warranting his recusal.
..... Tuesday, [06/18/2024] Soliman spilled all sorts of secrets about 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 Senator Brian Stack; Donald is attorney Donald Scarinici, a childhood friend of Menendez; Sacco is former state Senator 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 Governor 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, testing 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 planed 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 Senator 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 follow up with Menendez to inquire about their chances, Soliman told jurors that he and the senator strategist 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. [06/12/2024]
..... After the White House dropped Suarez as a potential U.S. attorney, Menendez again recommend 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.
..... Testimony is expected to continue Thursday [06/20/2024] morning in Manhattan.

Sentencing, Trial rescheduled

..... Jose Uribe, one of the three businessmen who was originally indicted with Menendez and his wife, faced a delayed sentencing due to the postponement of Nadine Arslanian Menendez's court case.
..... Uribe was initially scheduled to be sentenced June 14 [2024] but will now appear before a judge on October 29. [2024] He was charged alongside the senator last fall [2023] but entered a guilty plea after making a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
..... also charged with Menedez, Arslanain Menendez and Uribe were Bergen County developer Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman.
..... The week Uriber will be sentenced will also see a new trial for Daibes for a separate bank fraud case that is related with the Menendez charges.
..... Six years after he was first indicted, Daibes; bank fraud cause is scheduled to begin on October 22. [2024]

..... Editor's note: This story was originally published by the New Jersey Monitor, for which Dana DeFilippo is a staff writer. The New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, the nation's largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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