Embattled New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez (D) and his wife, Nadine, have been indicted on a new charge today for allegedly engaging in a conspiracy to act as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government, which is a violation of the Foreign Agent Registration Act. The Federal court in Manhattan returned the revised indictment with the new charge, which adds to the existing corruption charges they were indicted for last month.
Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, are facing years in prison after being indicted for bribery. The senator, who has faced a myriad of criminal investigations over his time in office, is accused of accepting gold bars and other gifts in exchange for providing help for a criminal case and to the Egyptian government.
Since their original indictments were returned last month, the calls for Senator Menendez to resign have come from several members of his own party in the Senate. Even Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has called for Menendez to step down.
Now, other Senate Democrats, and indeed Democrats in other offices, are piling on with calls for Menendez’s resignation.
Over a dozen Senate Democrats have called for their colleague, Sen. Bob Menendez, to resign after a bombshell indictment was unsealed in federal court last Friday.
Sen. Cory Booker issued a statement on Tuesday calling for Menendez, also from New Jersey, to step down in the wake of federal corruption charges related to overseas dealings with the government of Egypt.
“Stepping down is not an admission of guilt but an acknowledgement that holding public office often demands tremendous sacrifices at great personal cost,” Booker’s statement said. “Senator Menendez has made these sacrifices in the past to serve. And in this case he must do so again. I believe stepping down is best for those Senator Menendez has spent his life serving.”
Senator Booker uses an interesting choice of words here: “…best for those Senator Menendez has spent his life serving.” While Senator Menendez, yes, is absolutely entitled to his constitutional rights, including the presumption of innocence, as I said yesterday, there’s an awful lot of smoke for there not to be a fire there somewhere. If the charges end up being true, it would seem that Senator Menendez has spent his life serving himself. Not that he’s the only politician ever to have been accused of that, mind.
Menendez, along with his wife, both pleaded not guilty to the first indictment and are likely to do the same with these fresh charges. They both potentially face over 20 years in federal prison if they are convicted.
This is a breaking story and will be updated when more details become available.
