(C) Common Dreams
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Menendez and Wife Face Charges of Plotting to Make Him a Foreign Agent [1]
['Benjamin Weiser', 'Nicholas Fandos', 'William K. Rashbaum', 'More About Benjamin Weiser', 'More About Nicholas Fandos', 'More About William K. Rashbaum']
Date: 2023-10-12
Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat charged last month with taking bribes in exchange for lucrative political favors, faced a stunning new accusation on Thursday — that he conspired to act as an agent of Egypt even as he served as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Manhattan federal prosecutors filed the latest charge against Mr. Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, as well as a third defendant, Wael Hana, accusing them of conspiring to have the senator work on Egypt’s behalf without registering with the Justice Department.
The prosecutors have asked a judge to seize the Menendezes’ residence in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., as well as a Mercedes-Benz convertible that the government says was given to them as a bribe.
The alleged actions underlying the latest charge cut to the heart of Mr. Menendez’s Senate oath to “bear true faith and allegiance” to the U.S. Constitution and are certain to intensify pressure for him to resign from office. The charge accuses him of conspiring to violate an explicit prohibition on public officials serving as agents of foreign powers, and it appears to be the first time a sitting senator has been charged with conduct covered by the World War II-era Foreign Agents Registration Act.
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[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/nyregion/robert-menendez-foreign-agent-charge.html
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