Senator Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) maintained his innocence during a Monday morning press conference, insisting that the extensive corruption allegations laid out in a federal indictment unsealed Friday are false.

Federal investigators found nearly half-a-million dollars in cash and roughly $100,000 in gold bars when they searched Menendez’s New Jersey home in June of last year. The Democratic lawmaker, who stepped down from his post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, insisted during the press conference that the cash was withdrawn from his personal savings account in case of emergencies.

“For 30 years I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account which I have kept for emergencies, and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba. Now his may seem old-fashioned, but these were monies [sic] drawn from my personal savings account based on the income that I have lawfully derived over those 30 years.”

Menendez and his wife Nadine Arslanian are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, in the form of cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-showjob, and a luxury vehicle, in exchange for political action that would benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt and enrich three New Jersey businessmen.

During the press conference, he also detailed his record of supporting “civil society and human rights” in Egypt and his work for the people of New Jersey. He announced his intention to remain the senior Senator of the state of New Jersey.