Takeaways from investigation that turned up gold bars, a luxury car and cash at a US senator’s home

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife are accused of taking bribes of gold bars, a luxury car and cash in exchange for using his outsized sway in foreign affairs to help the authoritarian government of Egypt as well as others. An indictment unsealed Friday says investigators found nearly $500,000 in cash hidden in clothing and closets as well as $100,000 in gold bars in a search of the home the 69-year-old senator from New Jersey shares with his wife. Menendez serves as the powerful chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Menendez says he has been falsely accused but ‘will not be distracted’ from work in the Senate.