US Senator Menendez hit with bribery charges over Egypt ties, reports Reuters
By Luc Cohen, Patricia Zengerle and Andrew Goudsward
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors on Friday charged powerful Senator Bob Menendez and his wife with taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen, which could complicate Democrats’ efforts to keep their slim majority in the U.S. Senate in next year’s elections.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan said Menendez, 69, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cash and gold bars in exchange for using his power and influence as New Jersey’s senior senator to benefit the government of Egypt and interfere with law enforcement probes into the businessmen.
Menendez, the chair of the influential U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, has been an important ally to fellow Democrat Joe Biden as the president has sought to reassert U.S. influence on the world stage, rally support for congressional aid to Ukraine and push back against a rising China.
Senate Democratic rules require any member charged with a felony to give up their leadership position, although they can resume their position if found not guilty. Menendez stepped down from his position on the foreign relations committee during a previous corruption probe prosecutors ultimately dropped.
Aides to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The indictment contained an image of gold bars investigators seized from Menendez’s home as well as envelopes stuffed with cash found inside jackets bearing Menendez’s name hanging in his closet. Prosecutors said they found more than $480,000 in cash in his home.
Prosecutors are seeking to have Menendez forfeit assets including his New Jersey home, a 2019 Mercedes-Benz, and about $566,000 in cash, gold bars and funds from a bank account.
“This investigation is very much ongoing,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, said at a press conference. “We are not done. And I want to encourage anyone with information to come forward and to come forward quickly.”
Menendez in a statement said prosecutors mischaracterized routine legislative work.
“The excesses of these prosecutors is apparent,” Menendez said. “The facts are not as presented.”
A lawyer for Nadine Menendez, who has been married to the senator since 2020, said she denied wrongdoing and would “vigorously defend” against the allegations in court.
The investigation marks the third time Menendez has been investigated by federal prosecutors, but he has never been convicted.
Menendez has said he plans to seek re-election next year, and an investigation could complicate Democrats’ effort to expand their slim 51-49 seat majority in the 100-member Senate.
BUSINESSMEN ALSO CHARGED
The senator, his wife and the businessmen – Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes – are all expected to appear in Manhattan federal court on Sept. 27 to face charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services fraud.
Bob and Nadine Menendez, 56, also each face one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under colour of official right.
Source: Reuters for full story