Washington – New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, are accused by the Justice Department of conspiring to act as foreign agents for Egypt, according to new court documents released Thursday.
of priority prosecution The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, charges Menendez with one count of conspiracy by public officials to act on behalf of foreign principals, the Egyptian government and its employees. Federal law prohibits Mr. Menendez from serving as a public official and acting as a foreign agent.
Prosecutors said Menendez “further promised, performed, and conspired to commit a series of acts on behalf of Egypt, on behalf of Egyptian military and intelligence officials.” Stated. Mr. Wael Hana is an Egyptian businessman who runs a halal restaurant in New Jersey. He is a meat company and his wife.
New allegations against Menendez
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The new indictment alleges that Hana and Nadine Menendez “conveyed requests and instructions from Egyptian authorities to Mr. Menendez.” Neither Hana nor Nadine Menendez were registered as foreign agents or lobbyists, according to the Justice Department.
Mr. Menendez, Nadine Menendez, Mr. Hana, and two other New Jersey businessmen. Charged last month Prosecutors say the senator is suspected of being involved in a bribery scheme in which he received lavish bribes in exchange for official acts.
Menendez and his wife were initially charged with three crimes and now face a total of four charges.senator pleaded not guilty for his arraignment on all three charges last month. He temporarily stepped down from leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the original charges were filed.
“The government’s latest charges are a testament to my longstanding commitment to standing up for human rights and democracy in Egypt and challenging the country’s leaders, including President El-Sissi, on these issues,” Menendez said in a statement Thursday. It goes against the track record.” All my life, I have been loyal to one country, the United States of America, the country my family chose to live in democracy and freedom. ”
Mr. Menendez continues to maintain his innocence, saying, “Adding new charges on top of new charges does not make the charges true. The facts have not changed, only new charges have been made. Who is this? “This is an attempt to wear down the government, and I will not succumb to this tactic.” I once again ask that those who know me and my history give me a chance to represent myself and prove my innocence. ”
The new indictment details at least two meetings between Menendez and Hana at a Manhattan restaurant in June 2018 and September 2019, including a second meeting with an unnamed Egyptian official. was also included.
Prosecutors say Nadine Menendez “meeted with and had direct contact with multiple Egyptian officials, at least some of whom she understood to be intelligence officials, and received requests from and received requests from them.” “I relayed information and requests to Menendez.”
Alleged bribery scheme
Prosecutors said in the first document that Nadine Mendez and Hana had been dating for several years since Nadine and the senator began dating, in order to introduce them to Egyptian intelligence and military officials in order to solidify a “corrupt agreement.” He said he was working in In the deal, prosecutors alleged, the Menendez couple received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for favoring the Egyptian government.
The Justice Department said a June 2022 raid of Menendez’s New Jersey home yielded “the fruits of a corrupt bribery arrangement between Mr. Menendez and Nadine Menendez.”
Federal agents found more than $480,000 in cash stuffed in envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe, according to court filings. Photos included in the indictment show gold bars and cash sprinkled on a jacket with Menendez’s name on it, as well as a Mercedes-Benz convertible that Nadine Menendez allegedly received in the bribery scheme. It is reflected.
Nadine Menendez is accused of arranging meetings and dinners with Menendez and other Egyptian officials in 2018, during which the senator claimed that Hana, who paid for the dinners, had married his wife. In exchange, he allegedly promised to use his power to “facilitate” foreign military sales and financing. on his company’s payroll.
The Justice Department’s accusations prompted calls for Menendez to resign, including from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, fellow New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and many of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate. In response to recent accusations that Menendez conspired as a foreign agent, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, said the full Senate should vote in favor of expelling the New Jersey senator.
“We cannot have an alleged foreign agent in the United States Senate,” Fetterman said in a statement. “This is not a close call.”
However, the senator resisted pressure He resigned and vowed to fight for his acquittal in his place.
Menendez said last month that the cash that investigators found during a search of his home had been taken from his personal savings account and kept for “emergencies,” as has been the practice for decades. He also explained why he kept large amounts of cash in his home, citing “his family’s history of facing confiscation in Cuba.”
The latest indictment came several years after Menendez. indicted in 2015 He was indicted on about a dozen charges, including bribery and conspiracy, after being accused of accepting gifts from wealthy Democratic donors in exchange for political favors.That incident It ended in a mistrial When the jury deliberates for more than a week but fails to reach a verdict.
