Given the chance to defend himself, Bryant, a Democrat from Camden County, said what he has been saying all along:
Nothing.
Then he went into the courthouse with his lawyer for an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge John J. Hughes.
Typical for these kinds of hearings, Bryant's was anticlimactic. He was advised of the charges against him contained in a 20-count indictment returned by a grand jury on Thursday.
The judge, addressing Bryant as "senator," then asked Bryant to stand as he recited his rights.
"Do you understand these rights, sir?" the judge asked.
"Yes, I do," Bryant said.
The senator was taken from the courtroom to the U.S. Marshal's Office in the basement for processing. He was released about 45 minutes later on a $250,000 unsecured bond, which means he did not have to put up any money. He was ordered to surrender his passport and not to travel outside New Jersey or Eastern Pennsylvania.
His codefendant, R. Michael Gallagher, went through the same process and was released under similar conditions.
Both have been charged in connection with a no-show job Bryant held at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford.
Prosecutors said Gallagher, the former dean of the school, arranged for Bryant to get a $35,000-a-year position as a "program support coordinator" at the school. Prosecutors said Bryant did little to no work but steered millions of dollars to the school through his position as chair of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.
Gallagher also is charged in a separate fraud scheme, and Bryant is charged with padding his public pension with two other jobs for public bodies, for which he was accused of doing almost no work.
