Posted on 10/12/23
| News Source: The Hill
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) faces an additional charge of acting as a foreign agent, according to a superseding indictment filed Thursday.
Menendez is accused of conspiring with his wife, Nadine Arslanian, and New Jersey businessman Wael “Will” Hana to act as an agent of the Egyptian government between January 2018 and June 2022. They are each charged with conspiracy for a public official to act as a foreign agent.
“Among other actions, Menendez provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt,” the indictment reads.
The New Jersey Democrat has pleaded not guilty to three other federal charges that he accepted luxurious bribes to help enrich three New Jersey businessmen and benefit Egypt’s government. The bribes included “cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle and other things of value,” according to the indictment.
His wife has also pleaded not guilty to the other three charges alleging the couple entered a “corrupt relationship” with Hana and two other New Jersey businessmen, accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars” for Menendez’s influence.
Menendez has vigorously refuted what he’s described as baseless allegations against him and refused to leave Congress, despite the urgings of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate. Fellow New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (D), a longtime friend and ally, said last month that Menendez’s choice to remain in Congress is a “mistake.”