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      Manhattan district attorney asks judge to extend gag order against Trump

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      Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who prosecuted Donald Trump in his felony trial, has asked a judge to extend a gag order against the ex-president after an onslaught of threats and harassment against him and other officials since the guilty verdict.The gag order was placed on Trump before the start of the felony trial. It prevented the former president from attacking witnesses, court staff, jurors and relatives of Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the trial.Trump’s legal team has unsuccessfully attempted to overturn the gag order, arguing that it prevents voters from being able to hear from a presidential candidate.But Bragg and others have said that part of the order should remain for jurors, prosecutors, their staff and their families, given a high number of threats, the New York Times reported.Bragg specifically has faced an onslaught of death threats and harassment since Trump was found guilty. He has received more than 100 threatening emails via his campaign website, the New York Daily News reported, citing a source who asked to remain anonymous.Several of the abusive messages obtained by the Daily News use racial slurs including the N-word, “gorilla” and “primate”, it reported, adding that Bragg also faced death threats and racial abuse throughout the seven-week trial.In one instance, a package was sent to Bragg from Portland, Oregon, containing a picture of Bragg alongside a noose, with the caption: “I am past the point of just wanting them in prison.”The New York police department has logged 56 “actionable threats” since the start of April against Bragg, his employees, and his family, the Times reported.A representative for Bragg did not respond to a request for comment.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionTrump has aimed his own ire at Bragg even before the hush-money trial began. Last April, he reportedly told a close circle of advisers that he planned to escalate political attacks against the DA after a grand jury voted to indict him.Trump also accused Bragg of being a psychopath, and alleged that the hush-money trial was a political move.But much of the hate towards Bragg came after Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the New York state hush-money trial – making the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election the first former president to be convicted of a criminal offense.Since the trial, supporters of Trump have urged the former president to jail Bragg if he wins back the White House in November. Steve Bannon, a former strategist in Trump’s White House, has led the charge.“Of course [Bragg] should be – and will be – jailed,” Bannon told Axios, arguing that Bragg would be prosecuted under the US constitution’s 14th and fourth amendment.Other Republican-led states have promised to prosecute Bragg for his role in the Trump hush-money trial. The Missouri attorney general, Andrew Bailey, declared on Thursday that he would be filing a lawsuit against the state of New York for its “direct attack on our democratic process through unconstitutional lawfare against President Trump”. More

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      Missouri attorney general to sue New York over Trump prosecutions

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      The Missouri attorney general, Andrew Bailey, has confirmed that he is suing the state of New York for election interference and wrongful prosecution for bringing the Stormy Daniels hush-money case to a trial that saw Donald Trump convicted of 34 felonies.Bailey, a Republican politician appointed by Missouri’s governor, Mike Parson, last year, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that he would be filing a lawsuit “against the State of New York for their direct attack on our democratic process through unconstitutional lawfare against President Trump”.“We have to fight back against a rogue prosecutor who is trying to take a presidential candidate off the campaign trail. It sabotages Missourians’ right to a free and fair election,” he added in a subsequent message.The lawsuit is anticipated to be a series of similar actions against the New York attorney general, Letitia James, and the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, over a pair of lawsuits brought against Trump or the Trump Organization and its officers. Both resulted in findings against the defendants. Trump is appealing both cases.Bailey claims the hush-money case was brought to smear the presumptive presidential nominee going into November’s election and that New York’s statute of limitations on falsification of business records, a misdemeanor, expired in 2019.Moreover, he argues, Bragg never specified “intent to commit another crime” – namely election interference – that would have brought the charges back within time-limitation statutes.“Radical progressives in New York are trying to rig the 2024 election. We have to stand up and fight back,” Bailey told Fox News Digital on Thursday.But Bailey also told the outlet that he recognized that any attempt by one state to sue another would probably go straight to the US supreme court. He said the investigations and subsequent prosecutions of Trump “appear to have been conducted in coordination with the United States Department of Justice”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionNext month, Matthew Colangelo, a former federal prosecutor who transferred to New York where he worked on Trump’s state and city prosecutions, will be called to give evidence before Congress.The aftershocks of Trump’s 34-count criminal conviction continue to travel. On Friday, it was reported that the presumptive Republican presidential candidate had overtaken his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, in fundraising since the May verdict. More

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      New York signs parental control of ‘addictive’ social media feeds into law

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      New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, signed two bills into law on Thursday meant to mitigate negative impacts of social media on children, the latest action to address what critics say is a growing youth mental health crisis.The first bill will require that parents be able to stop their children from seeing posts suggested by a social network’s algorithm, a move to limit feeds Hochul argues are addictive. The second will put additional limitations on the collection, use, sharing and selling of personal data of anyone under the age of 18.“We can protect our kids. We can tell the companies that you are not allowed to do this, you don’t have a right to do this, that parents should have say over their children’s lives and their health, not you,” Hochul said at a bill-signing ceremony in Manhattan.Under the first bill, the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (Safe) for Kids Act, apps like TikTok and Instagram would be limited for people under the age of 18 to posts from accounts they follow, rather than content recommended by the app. It would also block platforms from sending minors notifications on suggested posts between midnight and 6am.Both provisions could be turned off if a minor gets what the bill defines as “verifiable parental consent”.Thursday’s signing is just the first step in what is expected to be a lengthy process of rule-making, as the laws do not take effect immediately and social media companies are expected to challenge the new legislation.The New York state attorney general, Letitia James, is now tasked with crafting rules to determine mechanisms for verifying a user’s age and parental consent. After the rules are finalized, social media companies will have 180 days to implement changes to comply with the regulation.“Addictive feeds are getting our kids hooked on social media and hurting their mental health, and families are counting on us to help address this crisis,” James said at the ceremony. “The legislation signed by Governor Hochul today will make New York the national leader in addressing the youth mental health crisis and an example for other states to follow.”Social media companies and free speech advocates have pushed back against such legislation, with NetChoice – a tech industry trade group that includes Twitter/X and Meta – criticizing the New York laws as unconstitutional.“This is an assault on free speech and the open internet by the state of New York,” Carl Szabo, vice-president and general counsel of NetChoice, said in a statement. “New York has created a way for the government to track what sites people visit and their online activity by forcing websites to censor all content unless visitors provide an ID to verify their age.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionNew York’s new laws come after California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced plans to work with his state’s legislature on a bill to restrict smartphone usage for students during the school day, though he didn’t provide exact details on what the proposal would include. Newsom in 2019 signed a bill allowing school districts to limit or ban smartphones on campuses.A similar measure proposed in South Carolina this month would ban students from using cellphones during the school day across all public schools in the state. Most schools in the United Kingdom prohibit the use of smartphones during school hours.Although there hasn’t been broad legislation on the subject at the federal level, pressure from Washington is mounting. This week the US surgeon general called on Congress to put warning labels on social media platforms similar to those on cigarette packaging, citing mental health dangers for children using the sites. More

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      Revealed: NYPD complaints surge under Adams to reach highest level since 2012

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      The New York City police department’s disciplinary issues are coming to a head during the third year of tough-on-crime Mayor Eric Adams’s administration, with complaints at their highest since 2012, stop-and-frisk encounters soaring and displays of impunity by rank-and-file officers, according to interviews and data from the city’s independent police watchdog agency.Disciplinary records and interviews with sources also reveal a persistent problem with instances of NYPD officers wearing morale patches on their bulletproof vests containing possible white supremacist imagery.This is an uncomfortable echo of four years ago, when the NYPD’s riot squad pummeled protesters and cops openly wore pro-Trump imagery, flashed white supremacist symbols while on duty and were discovered in membership lists of extremist militias.The first public clue of the NYPD’s renewed problem with far-right imagery emerged in the civilian complaint review board’s (CCRB) May monthly report. In December 2022, two officers from Staten Island’s 120th precinct responded to a fight between parents at a public school. One cop refused to provide his name to one of the mothers who also observed a patch with a skull image on the other cop’s bulletproof vests.“The skull patch on subject officer 2’s uniform was a specific imagery commonly used by white supremacist groups. Subject officer 2 stated that the patch was a gift, and the skull insignia did not have offensive connotations. The investigation found that the display of the patch on subject officer 2’s uniform was discourteous and offensive,” reads the summary in the CCRB document.According to sources with knowledge of the investigation, the cop with the offensive patch was Sergeant John J Pedersen, a 38-year-old who joined the NYPD in 2011 and has four sustained civilian complaints against him during his career. Pedersen will face a departmental trial for wearing the offensive patch.Pedersen’s conduct was not isolated: the CCRB has sustained complaints against several other cops for wearing the same sort of skull imagery – which resembles the logo of the comic book superhero the Punisher – while on duty, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The CCRB has investigated at least 19 cases related to improper morale patches – mostly related to the Punisher skull insignia – since 2018, according to an agency spokesperson.There have been earlier indications of the CCRB’s focus on political patches: Sergeant Dana Martillo lost 40 days of pay after she was disciplined for wearing pro-Trump patches on her bulletproof vest during a February 2021 Black Lives Matter protest in Brooklyn, including a Punisher logo fashioned after former president Donald Trump. However, the scope of the watchdog agency’s crackdown and its consideration of the Punisher logo as white supremacist iconography has not been previously made public.“The Punisher symbol has since been adopted by several groups, most prominent among them the US military, white supremacists and law enforcement. Between 2017 and 2021, the Punisher logo has been visible on articles of clothing and weapons held at white supremacy rallies,” reads a passage from a closing report from a 2020 CCRB case in which three officers sporting such patches were sustained for misconduct by the review board.“The Punisher symbol represents a character that engages in criminal behavior and violence and has been adopted by white supremacist groups. The symbol is inconsistent with the mission and values of the NYPD, namely those of enforcing the law, treating citizens with respect and valuing human life. Additionally, the ‘Punisher’ logo’s association with white supremacist groups goes against the requirements of [the patrol guide], which prohibit[s] association with any person or organization advocating hatred, oppression or prejudice based on race,” the report reads.The broader problem with morale patches was formally communicated by the independent watchdog agency to the NYPD’s legal bureau last year in an official “risk management bureau” letter informing the NYPD of a persistent discipline problem involving extremist iconography, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.“The CCRB takes all cases involving extremist imagery on uniforms very seriously, and images that invoke white supremacy are no exception,” a spokesperson for the watchdog agency wrote in an emailed statement. “CCRB investigators used the NYPD patrol guide to determine if the uniform modification in question constitutes misconduct.”The NYPD did not respond to repeated requests for comment.Michael Sisitzky, assistant policy director at the New York Civil Liberties Union, expressed alarm at the extremist imagery issue but noted it fit into a longer pattern. “These complaints are not entirely new, we’ve heard similar reports of officers sporting those patches or making white supremacist gestures at protests. Most recently, our monitors have seen really aggressive activity by the department towards the George Floyd and Palestinian solidarity protests,” Sisitzky said.More alarmingly, Sisitzky said, the NYPD’s command staff under Mayor Adams’s term has taken a hard turn to the right.“The adversarial and hostile tone and rhetoric towards New Yorkers from the command staff have been really troubling – figures like [Chief of Department] Jonathan Chell and [Assistant Commissioner] Kaz Daughtry have been using social media to attack members of the city council and judges, recently called out protesters as ‘anti-American’, and are slurring folks as supporters of terrorism.”The behavior of senior NYPD officials like Chell and Daughtry has provoked rebukes from the city council and prompted New York City’s department of investigation to open an inquiry into the use of social media by the police department.Adams, for his part, unequivocally supports the NYPD’s new aggressive approach towards its political opponents.The CCRB, which is the external investigative agency for complaints of NYPD misconduct, is staring down precipitous budget cuts: the current budget calls for a $25.7m cut to the watchdog agency’s budget. In response to prior rounds of cuts, the CCRB has ceased investigating whole categories of complaints if they are isolated incidents, including failure of officers to provide their name and shield number, threats by a member of service, discourtesy, refusal to process a civilian complaint, property seizures, forced hospitalizations or untruthfulness.Yet some 2,355 complaints were made against NYPD personnel as of 1 June, according to CCRB data. That is the highest total number at this point in the year since 2012, when 2,374 complaints were logged against police.Before 2023, complaints against NYPD officers had dropped steadily since 2019, but the Adams administration’s return to stress policing tactics last seen under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police commissioner Ray Kelly resulted in a huge spike in misconduct allegations last year, as the Guardian first reported last fall. Vehicle stops have skyrocketed 50% as well, without a commensurate increase in seized contraband, arrests, summonses or other legal actions.What’s more, NYPD line officers are not accurately documenting the true number of stop-and-frisk encounters with New Yorkers and appear to face no accountability for this lapse, according to a letter filed at the end of 2023 by the court monitor overseeing a consent decree that ostensibly reins in the NYPD’s conduct on the street per a 2013 settlement agreement.The letter singled out “neighborhood safety teams” and “precinct safety teams”, the terms used by the Adams administration to rebrand the NYPD’s notorious, aggressive anti-crime units that were behind the huge rise in stop-and-frisk encounters during the Bloomberg administration, when hundreds of thousands of mostly Black and Latino New Yorkers were stopped and searched.Lupe Aguirre, a staff attorney at the NYCLU, criticized the budget cuts to the CCRB.“Transparency remains a real issue with the NYPD, and the CCRB is a critical source of insight into the agency’s disciplinary system,” Aguirre said. “Without it, we don’t really have a sense of how the NYPD’s internal accountability systems are working and how problematic cops remain on the force and are held accountable.” More

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      New York governor considers face-mask ban on subway to deter crime

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      New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, is considering reimposing a ban on face masks in the Big Apple’s transit system over allegations that masked protesters are taking advantage of identity-concealing face wear to stage antisemitic attacks.The governor has not spelled out details of the policy or people who may be exempted. But she has said that she is motivated to act by “a group donning masks that took over a subway car, scaring riders and chanting things about [Nazi dictator Adolf] Hitler and wiping out Jews”.Hochul may have been referring to a recent episode involving a pro-Palestinian rally in which a man led a small group on a New York City subway car in chanting: “Raise your hands if you’re a Zionist – this is your chance to get out.”Another man is reported to have shouted allusions to the Holocaust, saying: “I wish Hitler was still here. He would’ve wiped all you out.”However, neither men was reported to have been masked.“We will not tolerate individuals using masks to evade responsibility for criminal or threatening behavior,” Hochul said on Thursday, adding that “on a subway, people should not be able to hide behind a mask to commit crimes”.The potential move comes close to four years after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic during which New Yorkers initially struggled to obtain enough masks to slow the spread of the virus. Masks then became a defining feature of the era, but recommendations to wear them have been dropped as protective vaccines have become available and the rate of spread has slowed.New York has historically had a push-and-pull relationship with face coverings dating to 1845, when they were banned in response to attacks by tenant farmers on landlords. That ban was repealed in 2020 in response to Covid, and masks became mandatory for two years until September 2022.Hochul, who last week put on hold a plan to charge drivers for entering lower Manhattan over concerns it could interfere with the city’s ongoing economic recovery, said the mask issue was “complex”.“We’re just listening to people and addressing their needs and taking them very seriously,” she added.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionPro-Palestinian demonstrators have said that wearing masks is necessary because of police surveillance and threats by some employers in the finance industry that participating in demonstrations could render protesters unemployable.On this issue, Hochul appears to have the backing of the New York City mayor, Eric Adams. He told the political talk-radio show Cats & Cosby this week that “people have hid under the guise of wearing a mask for Covid to commit criminal acts and vile acts. Now is the time to go back to the way it was pre-Covid, where you should not be able to wear a mask at protests and our subway systems and other places.”Adams went on to invoke the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. “Those civil rights leaders did not hide their faces,” Adams said. “They stood up. In contrast to that, the [Ku Klux] Klan hid their faces. Cowards hide their faces when they want to do something disgraceful.”The Associated Press contributed reporting More

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      Hillary Clinton endorses challenger for Jamaal Bowman’s New York House seat

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      Hillary Clinton endorsed the primary challenger in representative Jamaal Bowman’s vulnerable re-election race in New York.The former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate gave her support to George Latimer, the Westchester county executive who has received significant support from the pro-Israel lobby group Aipac.“With Trump on the ballot, we need strong, principled Democrats in Congress more than ever,” Clinton wrote on X on Wednesday. “In Congress, [Latimer] will protect abortion rights, stand up to the NRA, and fight for President Biden’s agenda – just like he’s always done.”In a statement, Latimer said it was a “deep honor” to receive Clinton’s support. “Her voice gives even more momentum to our grassroots campaign, which keeps gaining strength because we stand strongly and honestly for our values and for our belief in delivering meaningful results for the communities we serve,” he said.Hours after Clinton’s announcement, Senator Bernie Sanders said in a post to X that he would be speaking at a rally for Bowman, hosted by the New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.“AIPAC, funded by rightwing billionaires, supports extremist Republican candidates. They will spend $100m against progressives this year, including $25m against [Bowman],” said Sanders, referring to the pro-Israel lobby.“Democrats must unite against this Super Pac. I look forward to joining Jamaal & [Ocasio-Cortez] in New York.”The upcoming race between Bowman and Latimer has grown increasingly contentious as the candidates’ divided stances on Israel’s deadly war in Gaza has become the focus.View image in fullscreenBowman has remained critical of Israel, like other progressive House representatives. Meanwhile, Latimer has received significant support from the the United Democracy Project, a Super Pac affiliated with Aipac, NBC News reported. The Super Pac has already spent millions on campaign funding to unseat Bowman.The latest endorsement for Latimer could increase his predicted sizable lead ahead of the 25 June primary election.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionLatimer holds a 17-point lead over Bowman, according to a survey by Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill.Bowman has faced challenges during his tenure. The progressive representative was censured in December by mostly House Republicans after pulling the fire alarm in a congressional office building while the chamber was in session.He said that he pulled the alarm by mistake, while critics accuse him of doing so to delay a vote.Bowman faced additional backlash after a personal blog of his that included conspiracy theories on the September 11 attacks resurfaced. More

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      New York probation officers to interview Trump prior to his criminal sentencing

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      Donald Trump is scheduled to be interviewed by New York probation officials Monday, a required step before his July sentencing in his criminal hush-money case, according to three people familiar with the plan.The former president will do the interview via a computer video conference from his residence at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, the people told the Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to disclose the plans publicly.One of Trump’s lawyers, Todd Blanche, will be present for the interview. People convicted of crimes in New York usually meet with probation officials without their lawyers, but the judge in Trump’s case, Juan Merchan, said in a letter Friday that he would allow Blanche’s presence.The usual purpose of a pre-sentencing probation interview is to prepare a report that will tell the judge more about the defendant, and potentially help determine the proper punishment for the crime.Such reports are typically prepared by a probation officer, a social worker or a psychologist working for the probation department who interviews the defendant and possibly that person’s family and friends, as well as people affected by the crime.Present reports include a defendant’s personal history, criminal record and recommendations for sentencing. It will also include information about employment and any obligations to help care for a family member. It is also a chance for a defendant to say why they think they deserve a lighter punishment.A jury convicted Trump of falsifying business records at his own company as part of a broader scheme to buy the silence of people who might have told embarrassing stories about him during the 2016 presidential campaign. One $130,000 payment went to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, who claimed to have had a sexual encounter with Trump, which he denied.Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, says he is innocent of any crime and that the criminal case was brought to hurt his chances to regain the White House.Following Trump’s historic conviction, a New York Times/Siena College post-verdict analysis of nearly 2,000 interviews with voters found that Trump’s advantage over Joe Biden narrowed from three to one point.Trump’s campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, said in a statement Sunday that the president’s Democratic party allies “continue to ramp up their ongoing Witch-Hunts, further abusing and misusing the power of their offices to interfere in the presidential election”.“President Trump and his legal team are already taking necessary steps to challenge and defeat the lawless Manhattan DA case,” he said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMerchan has scheduled Trump’s sentencing for 11 July. He has discretion to impose a wide range of punishments, ranging from probation and community service to up to four years in prison.In his first rally earlier this week following his conviction, Trump, who is appealing his conviction, issued foreboding threats.“Those appellate courts have to step up and straighten things out, or we’re not going to have a country any longer,” Trump said at a Turning Point Action event in Phoenix, Arizona.Meanwhile, reports have emerged of New York police planning to revoke Trump’s license to carry a gun as a result of his conviction.Speaking to CNN anonymously, a New York police department official said that it will complete its investigation “that will likely lead to revocation of his license”. More

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      Businessman testifies he promised Bob Menendez up to $250,000 in bribes

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      A New Jersey businessman took his star turn on the witness stand on Friday in the bribery case against US senator Bob Menendez, telling a jury he believed he had a $200,000-$250,000 deal in 2018 for the Democrat to pressure the state attorney general’s office to stop investigating his friends and family.Jose Uribe testified in Manhattan federal court in the afternoon, providing key testimony against Menendez and two other businessmen charged in a conspiracy along with Menendez’s wife. Next week, Menendez’s lawyers will get to cross-examine the naturalized US citizen.“Next week we get the truth,” Menendez said just before stepping into a car that carried him away from Manhattan federal court, where he has been on trial for the last month.Uribe, 57, who pleaded guilty to charges in a March cooperation deal, was the star witness for the government in its bid to win a conviction against the senator, who once held the powerful post as chair of the Senate foreign relations committee. He was forced out of the position after he was criminally charged last fall.Menendez, 70, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he accepted gold bars, cash and a luxury car in return for doing favors for the businessmen. Two businessmen and Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez, also have pleaded not guilty. Nadine Menendez’s trial has been postponed until at least July after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.Uribe testified that he had been close friends with Wael Hana, who is on trial with Menendez, when Hana told him in early 2018 that New Jersey state criminal investigations swirling around the trucking business of a friend of his and Uribe’s own insurance business could be largely put to rest if he was willing to spend $200,000 to $250,000.Uribe said Hana told him that he would go to Nadine Arslanian (her name before she married the senator), who had begun dating Menendez that year, and then “Nadine would go to Senator Menendez”, although Uribe did not testify about how the couple could resolve multiple investigations.Uribe said he held a 13 July 2018 political fundraiser for Menendez, which the senator attended, raising $50,000. He said he attended an afterparty with Menendez and Arslanian that included cocktails, along with “some laughs, some jokes and some dancing”, but there was no mention of the work he expected Menendez to do on his behalf.View image in fullscreen“It was a crowded and loud place,” Uribe said.He said his confidence that the deal was working faded in the fall when an investigator from the attorney general’s office asked to interview his employee.“I was not happy,” he said.Assistant US attorney Lara Pomerantz showed jurors a series of text messages between Uribe and Hana in which Uribe pressed his friend to get the senator to stop the criminal investigations.“Please be sure that your friend knows about this,” Uribe wrote to Hana in one text.Pomerantz asked whom he was referring to as “your friend”.“Senator Menendez,” Uribe responded. Hana, according to the texts, responded: “I will.”Hana arranged for Uribe to have dinner with Menendez and Arslanian at a restaurant in October 2018, but Uribe testified there was no mention of the deal.“Nothing was discussed there of value, I will say,” Uribe testified. “It was a … pointless meeting.”Uribe said he began communicating directly with Nadine Arslanian in March 2019 and promised that he would buy her a car if she delivered on the deal to get the senator to shut down New Jersey criminal investigations.“She agreed to the terms,” he said.When the prosecutor asked Uribe what he understood the terms of the deal to mean, he said he understood that Nadine Arslanian would contact Menendez and get him to use his “influence and power to do anything possible to stop and kill” the investigations.On Thursday, former New Jersey attorney general Gurbir Grewal testified that Menendez in an early 2019 telephone call and in a September 2019 office meeting tried to talk to him about a criminal investigation. Grewal said he followed his policy and refused to do so, telling Menendez to contact defense lawyers so they could reach out to trial-level prosecutors or the judge.Uribe, of Clifton, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in March, saying during his plea that he gave Nadine Menendez a Mercedes-Benz in return for her husband “using his power and influence as a United States senator to get a favorable outcome and to stop all investigations related to one of my associates”.Uribe was accused of buying the luxury car for Nadine Menendez after her previous car had been destroyed when she struck and killed a man crossing the street. She did not face criminal charges in connection with that crash. More