Bob Menendez, the embattled New Jersey senator (D), and his wife Nadine were indicted today on a new count for allegedly conspiring to act as an agent of the Egyptian government in violation of the Foreign Agent Registration Act. The Federal Court of Manhattan returned the revised charge with the indictment. This is in addition to the corruption charges that they were charged for last month.
Bob Menendez of the United States Senate and his wife Nadine Menendez face years in prison for bribery. The senator has been the subject of a number of criminal investigations during his tenure in office. He is accused of accepting gifts and gold bars in exchange for helping with a criminal investigation and providing assistance to the Egyptian Government.
Since the original indictments returned last month, several senators from his own party have called for him to resign. Even Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, has called for Menendez’s resignation.
Menendez is being called out by other Senate Democrats and even Democrats in other offices.
After a shocking indictment in federal court was revealed last Friday, more than a dozen Senate Democrats called on their colleague, Senator Bob Menendez to resign.
Booker, a New Jersey senator, issued a press release on Tuesday, calling on Menendez to resign in light of federal charges of corruption related to dealings overseas with the Egyptian government.
Booker’s statement stated that “Stepping down does not mean an admission of guilt, but rather an acknowledgment that holding public offices often requires tremendous sacrifices and great personal cost,” Senator Menendez made sacrifices for the sake of service in the past. In this case, he will have to do it again. “I believe that stepping down would be best for the people Senator Menendez spent his entire life serving.”
Senator Booker makes an interesting choice here: “…best of all for Senator Menendez’s lifelong service.” As I said yesterday: Senator Menendez is entitled to all of his constitutional rights including the presumption of innocence. However, it’s a lot of smoke to believe that there isn’t a fire somewhere. If the allegations are true, then it seems that Senator Menendez spent his entire life serving himself. It’s not like he is the only politician to be accused of this.
Menendez and his wife are both likely to plead not guilty in the face of these new charges. Both could face up to 20 years in federal jail if convicted.
This is an emerging story that will be updated as more information becomes available.
