Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., is seen after addressing colleagues at a Democratic senate luncheon in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, September 28, 2023.
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Sen. Bob Menendez is ready to be arraigned Monday on a federal indictment accusing him of conspiring to act as a foreign agent for the Egyptian authorities.
It is the second time in lower than 4 weeks that the Democratic senator from New Jersey is scheduled to seem in court docket to enter a plea on legal expenses associated to his alleged abuse of workplace. He is anticipated to plead not responsible to the brand new charge.
Menendez, who’s up for reelection subsequent 12 months, has denied wrongdoing and vowed not to resign. The arraignment is ready for 3 p.m. ET in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Menendez and his spouse, Nadine Menendez, have been charged final month with accepting a variety of bribes — together with gold bars, money, house mortgage funds and a Mercedes-Benz convertible — as a part of a yearslong “corrupt relationship” with three New Jersey businessmen.
That indictment accused Menendez of utilizing his energy and affect in ways in which “secretly aided the Government of Egypt,” together with by sharing “delicate U.S. Government data.”
The senator and his spouse pleaded not responsible on Sept. 27 to the preliminary three-count indictment, which charged them each with conspiring to commit bribery, sincere companies fraud and extortion below shade of official proper.
In mid-October, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment in the identical case, charging Menendez, his spouse and one of many businessmen, Wael Hana, with conspiring for a public official to act as a foreign agent.
The new legal rely alleges that they “willfully and knowingly mixed, conspired, confederated, and agreed collectively and with one another” to have Menendez unlawfully “act as an agent of a foreign principal.”
Four of the co-defendants in the case pleaded not responsible final week to the costs in that up to date indictment. Menendez had been granted a delay of his arraignment in order to solid beforehand scheduled votes in the Senate.
What’s subsequent for Menendez and Senate Democrats?
Menendez, who has been in the Senate for 17 years, has stepped down from his function as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as he fights his legal expenses.
As Senate Democrats look to maintain onto their slim majority in the chamber previous the 2024 election cycle, many have overtly known as for Menendez to resign.
If he does step down, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy might appoint a successor to serve out the remainder of his time period. Murphy, a Democrat, has additionally urged Menendez to resign.
But the senator, who beforehand confronted unrelated bribery expenses in a separate case that ended in a mistrial in 2017, has remained defiant.
“The authorities’s newest charge flies in the face of my lengthy file of standing up for human rights and democracy in Egypt and in difficult leaders of that nation, together with President El-Sisi on these points. I’ve been, all through my life, loyal to just one nation — the United States of America, the land my household selected to dwell in democracy and freedom,” Menendez stated in an announcement following his newest legal expenses.
“Piling new charge upon new charge doesn’t make the allegations true. The info have not modified, solely a brand new charge,” Menendez stated. “It is an try to put on somebody down and I cannot succumb to this tactic. I once more ask individuals who know me and my file to give me the possibility to current my protection and present my harmless.”
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