The indictment alleges that Menendez and his wife took bribes in exchange for favors ranging from sharing state secrets with the Egyptian government, to pushing forward a company to which Egypt awarded a monopoly on halal meat exports, to trying to interfere with the course of justice in state and federal criminal cases.
Attorneys for both men entered not guilty pleas at their arraignment Wednesday morning before Judge Ona Wang.
The political fallout was significant. Menendez immediately suspended himself from his post as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as required under Senate rules. Calling for his immediate resignation were House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
At least 20 Senators on Tuesday asked the chairman of that chamber’s influential Foreign Affairs Committee to step aside, but he insists otherwise.
The accusation against Menendez was formally filed on Friday and since then the media has been incessantly talking about it.
Menendez insists his actions to overflow his pockets are unfounded and last Monday assured the press that he will be exonerated.
Authorities claimed they found over $480,000 in cash during a search at Senator´s home in June 2022. “Much of this amount were stashed away in envelopes and clothing, closets and a safe.”
Federal agents noted there was more than $70,000 in a safe deposit box belonging to Nadine Menendez, as well as gold bullion worth over $100,000.
Senator Menendez, 69, was also indicted on corruption charges in 2015, which were eventually dropped in 2018 and he remained in office.
But this time Cory Booker, labeled as a key ally who defended him on that occasion, joined other Senators calling for Menendez resignation, and stated his charges seemed to him “hard to reconcile with the person I know.”
Bob Menendez, considered as “the most Republican of the Democrats”, has stood out for his hostile stance towards Cuba (the country where his parents were born), being the architect, alongside another group of anti-Cuban congressmen, of trying to prevent any change in the U.S. Government’s policy.
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