The News
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez has been accused of acting as a foreign agent in a superseding federal indictment.
The new indictment alleges Menendez “provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt.”
The Democratic senator, along with his wife, was originally charged with accepting bribes from a halal meat company that would eventually monopolize the imported meat market in Egypt.
Know More
Menendez allegedly provided data about military aid to Egypt via the businessmen working with the meat company, according to the indictment. Part of the “sensitive information” he is accused of sharing includes the number of U.S. personnel working at the embassy in Cairo, which Menendez’s wife then texted to an Egyptian government official.
The senator allegedly pressured and improperly advised a U.S. Department of Agriculture official to protect the monopoly granted to the halal meat company. He further used his power on at least two occasions to influence a criminal case against the businessmen who have been accused of bribing him, prosecutors allege.
The senator has refused to heed calls from his Democratic colleagues to resign.
