U.S. Senator, Bob Menendez is set to appear in a federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday, September 27, 2023.
Menendez has been accused of taking bribes of cash and gold bars in exchange for using his influence to benefit Egypt’s government.
The Senator claims that the allegations are baseless.
It is the second corruption case in a decade against Menendez.
Menendez stepped down as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee after the indictment was brought last week but has refused to resign from the Senate despite growing calls from colleagues for him to do so.
He has stated that he is confident that he will be exonerated and has no intention of leaving the Senate.
Around half of Senate Democrats have now said that Menendez should step down.
On Tuesday, September 26, 2023, New Jersey Democratic Senator, Cory Booker joined the calls for Menendez to resign, saying in a statement that the indictment contains ”shocking allegations of corruption and specific, disturbing details of wrongdoing.”
The indictment alleges repeated actions by Menendez to benefit Egypt, despite U.S. government misgivings over the country’s human rights record that in recent years have prompted Congress to attach restrictions on aid.
Prosecutors claim that Menendez gave sensitive U.S. government information to Egyptian officials and ghost wrote a letter to fellow senators encouraging them to lift a hold on $300 million in aid to Egypt, one of the top recipients of U.S. military support.
Authorities claim that they found nearly $500,000 in cash; much of it hidden in clothing and closets, as well as more than $100,000 in gold bars in a search of Menendez’s New Jersey home.
Menendez’s Wife To Be Arraigned
Menendez’s wife, Nadine is also due to be arraigned on Wednesday.
Prosecutors say that she played a key role in collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes from three New Jersey businessmen seeking help from the powerful lawmaker.
An attorney for Nadine Menendez said that she also denies the allegations and will fight the charges.
Two of the businessmen; Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, are also expected to be arraigned. The third man, Wael Hana, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, to charges including conspiracy to commit bribery.
Hana was arrested at New York’s Kennedy airport on Tuesday after returning voluntarily from Egypt to face the charges, and was ordered freed pending trial.
Menendez said on Monday, September 25, 2023 that the cash found in his home was drawn from his personal savings accounts over the years, and which he kept on hand for emergencies.
However, prosecutors claim that one of the envelopes full of cash found at his home, bore Daibes’ DNA.
According to prosecutors, Hana promised to put Menendez’s wife on his company’s payroll in a low-or-no-show job in exchange for Menendez using his influential post to facilitate foreign military sales and financing to Egypt.
Prosecutors allege that Hana also paid $23,000 toward Nadine’s home mortgage, wrote $30,000 checks to her consulting company, promised her envelopes of cash, sent her exercise equipment and bought some of the gold bars that were found in the couple’s home.
Moreover, prosecutors have accused Menendez of pressuring a U.S. agricultural official to stop opposing a lucrative deal that gave Hana’s company a monopoly over certifying that imported meat met religious standards.
Prosecutors also allege Menendez tried to interfere in criminal investigations involving associates.
In one case, prosecutors claim that Menendez pushed to install a federal prosecutor in New Jersey whom Menendez believed he could influence to derail a criminal case against Daibes.
