New york city. It is the opening chapter in with what koun could be one of the most fascinating political and legal dramas this side of donald trump. Senator bob menendez defiant as he faces allegations he used his political power for personal gain. And now a new investigation into whether Egyptian Intelligence was pulling the strings. Plus, a judge plows a gaping hole in former President Trumps biggest claim to fame, his wealth and selfproclaimed genius as a businessman. In reality the judge found im sorry, we have to take a quick break. We will be back. Break. We will be back. Now subways slicing their ham fresh. Like on the new grand slam ham. Piled high with double the cheese and more meat. Id like to tackle one of these after a game. Quarterbacks cant tackle anything Liberty Mutual customized my Car Insurance and i saved hundreds. With the money i saved, i started a dog walking business. Oh. [dog barks] no its just a bunny only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. 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He had faced a judge for the first time just minutes before that pleading not guilty to federal charges. It looked like, frankly, they were ripped from a novel, bribery, fraud, extortion. A sitting senator allegedly on the take are from a foreign government. And just moments before that happened, before he walked out of court, nbc news learned that it was the senator who single handedly blocked legislation that would have strengthened laws preventing exactly this kind of thing. All of that Compounding Allegations that were already breathtaking in scope, alleging that menendez used his political power to help the government of egypt unlock hundreds of millions in u. S. Aid and getting in Return Hundreds of millions in cash and gold bars, at least hundreds of thousands. And political fallout is clear. More than half of Senate Democrats now on the record wanting him to quit. But the senator continues to insist he is not going anywhere. Did you run for reelection . Right now were here to do the people of new jersey. Are you running for reelection . Why wont you resign, sir . Because im innocent. Whats wrong with you guys . Why were there gold bars there . Nbcs Lindsey Reiser is at the courthouse in new york, elise jordan served as an aide to former president george w. Bush. Rocco sip roan is a former federal prosecutor in new jersey and a criminal defense attorney. Good to have all of you here. Lindsey, we watched that video as he left the courthouse. What else can you tell us about the scene there today . Yeah, just a throng of reporters and cameras here outside the courthouse as we watch that tape back, just happened moments ago while we were in commercial break. The senator and his wife leaving the federal courthouse without addressing the cameras without making any kind of statement. They walked in this morning holding hands. They sat in the federal courtroom where there are no cameras allowed in the same row where there are attorneys between them, and the other two codefendants we are seated behind them. They all pleaded not guilty today, and the judge set terms for the senators release, including 100,000 bond. He has to surrender his personal pass passport. He can still travel internationally on official business. Hes not supposed to have any contact with any witnesses or codefendants except for his wife, and he cant have any contact with any staff on the Foreign Relations committee, which he chaired but stepped down from. They have specific knowledge of the case. Now, we know theres an initial Conference Date set for october 2nd. Thats whats next in this case. Interesting that the senator didnt make any kind of statement. We werent necessarily expecting him to, but he also didnt respond to any questions, didnt do so on monday either, chris, when i was at that Press Conference in union city, new jersey, where he grew up. He said he believes at the end of this, he will be exonerated and will remain new jerseys senior senator. He hasnt clarified on whether he intends to run for office. Today is a very different day, just monday, chris, where monday when i was reporting in that Press ConferenceMidday Monday there was there was only one senator in the democratic caucus, John Fetterman calling for his resignation. Now that number is 30, and it is growing including a notable ally cory booker, also the senator of new jersey. Notable because they are allies. They are friends. He was a Character Witness in that 2015 case that led to a hung jury and a mistrial in 2017. So the pressure is mounting, more and more of his colleagues, cory booker saying in a statement that while senators are held to the same criminal standard, they have a higher common ideals standard and saying that his constituents and the people he has to work with in the senate to get things done are shaken to their core, chris. Thank you for that, lindsey. Rocco, i was going to ask you about the pressure here because the senator has also reminded everyone that he was indicted before but the jury was hung, and the doj ultimately decided not to retry him. Knowing that, i would think that the prosecution would make doubly sure they dont have any holes in this case. My question to you is going to be is there a lot more they have we dont know. Now we have this reporting from our own ken dilanian and frank thorpe that he single handedly blocked passage of Bipartisan Legislation in 2020 that would have strengthened the law regulating foreign influence and lobbying in washington. Ill go back in that context to my what was going to be my original question to you. Did they have even more than there is in this sweeping indictment that we dont know about yet . Sure, good afternoon, chris, how are you . So the answer is yes. In all likelihood they have substantially more than is in the indictment. This indictment is unusually detailed. Most indictments in the federal criminal system are much more spartan. This is a speaking indictment. They have front loaded it with a lot of the bad evidence against menendez. There is no doubt in my mind that that is only the tip of the iceberg. They have substantially more evidence than is revealed in the indictment. The government always holds some of that back. Menendez is going to get it in discovery, sometimes in dribs and drabs. I suspect they have a lot more evidence. Elise, we learned from our partners at wnbc that the fbi has opened a Counterintelligence Investigation to try to figure out what role Egyptian Intelligence may have had in setting all of this up. How can you go about assessing how much influence egypt may have had over our Foreign Policy if something happened as a result of something that might have changed hands . Its just incredible, chris, that this has happened and the extent to which this has influenced the United States relationship to egypt. We dont even know how much it has influenced to date. But we can imagine we give billions of dollars in security aid, in various aid, and we stopped giving that aid for different junctures because egypt is a military dictatorship, and then well reinstate the aid at the urging of a powerful senator whos chair of the senate Foreign Relations committee. So theres so much tick tock here, and the fact that menendez was such a strong ally of funding for egypt and arm sales to egypt, it stinks to high heavens. Politically, you look at the impact of this on the american landscape, and in the aftermath of 2016 and the russian interference in the president ial election, how can democrats not go hard at this egyptian influence operation . Its no surprise, elise, that foreign adversaries would want to have influence over people inside our government, but what might make bob menendez a particularly attractive target . I mean, obviously we talked about the fact that he has this powerful leadership position, but whats your sense of that . Bob menendez controls a lot of funding, going out of the United States government and out of u. S. Taxpayers, this is an incredibly provocative act for the egyptians to attempt it, they were attempting and it was a sophisticated operation which it cant just be casual that it happened to befall such a powerful person. Perhaps his previous Corruption Charges made him an easy target for such an operation if it is revealed to be such, but this is just an incredibly provocative act that its going to fall to the Biden Administration to have to reevaluate our relationship with egypt. Is there not going to be any punishment for this kind of targeting of a high ranking american elected official. Rocco, when you have a case like this that involves foreign governments and potentially and this is key here the sensitive nonpublic information, does it complicate the prosecution and in what ways . It actually complicates both the prosecution and the defense. I expect that theyre going to be what we call protective orders entered that limit the people who can have exposure to the evidence prior to the trial. It makes it difficult to garner witnesses, for example, who might be foreign officials or people who are kind of outside the jurisdiction of the United States to bring in either as a prosecution or a defense witness. So it does complicate it, but i think what the government is going to try to do here is build a Straight Line from the codefendants and the gold bars, and if you will, the gold Paved Yellow Brook road to menendezs house with the possession of the fruits of these alleged bribes, and i think thats the way the governments going to try to stick to that script and methodology to keep the case as Straight Line as possible. And lindsey, whats next . Where does this case go next . Reporter so i mentioned that initial conference hearing, again, that is on let me reference my notes, october 2nd at 2 30 p. M. Of course this was the initial court appearance, the arraignment, next is discovery. So today the judge ordering the prosecution to deliver to the Defense Material that would aid in their defense and of course well have pretrial motions, a trial date hasnt been set yet, but theyre also there is a deadline for them to comply with the terms of their release. I believe that will be october 12th. That next october 2nd is the next hearing. Unclear if they will be here in person or just their attorneys, chris. Lindsey reiser, rocco cipparone, thank you very much. Next, the fraud case thats threatening not just his image but his Business Empire. Youre watching Chris Jansing reports only on news. Watchingg reports only on news. 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No apartment has ever sold for even close to that amount here. His maralago property was valued as high as 739 million. Its actual worth, much closer to 75 million according to the new york a. G. I want to bring in nbcs Vaughn Hillyard who follows the campaign, also with us former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst, paul butler. So vaughn, there is no doubt about this, being ric allowed donald trump to become famous, and that allowed him to run for president , and this judge just shot a massive hole through that story. What exactly could it mean for the future of trumps business, and could it have an impact on how his supporters see him . Reporter right, by and large we have seen his most loyal supporters, chris, be undeterred from the allegations of financial fraud against him. Youll