On Tuesday, a New Jersey jury of his peers found (unreformed thief and serial bribe taker) Senator Bob Menedez guilty of failing to register as a foreign agent for the state of Egypt. Each year, the United States gives Egypt $2.9 billion in military and economic assistance.
Of this amount, $1.3 billion goes to military spending. Senator Bob Menedez, who sits on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, thought it was his duty to claw back some of the aid the US gives to Egypt. It happens all the time. That is par for the course.
Why is Egypt disloyal to the United States after getting all that money? On Tuesday, a New Jersey jury found their Senator, Robert Menendez, guilty of accepting hundreds of “thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using his powerful post to enrich and protect three businessmen and the Egyptian and Qatari governments.”
Sticky Finger Bob
Menendez, a three-term Democratic Senator from New Jersey, is known as the sticky finger Senator. On September 20, 2022, the DOJ (Department of Justice) charged Senator Bob Menendez with 16 counts, including bribery, extortion, acting as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice, and several counts of criminal activity.
The latest charges and subsequent conviction of Senator Menedes aren’t the first time Sticky Finger Bob has been caught taking bribes. “In 2015, the DoJ indicted on Menendez federal corruption charges. He went to trial; however, the jury could not reach a verdict. The Department of Justice dropped against Menendez in 2018.
Some People Never Learn
In April 2018, the United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics “severely admonished” Menendez for accepting gifts from donor Salomon Melgen without obtaining committee approval, failing to disclose certain gifts, and using his position as a senator to advance Melgen’s interests.
According to the DoJ 2022 lawsuit, “Robert Menendez Allegedly Agreed to Use His Official Position to Benefit Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, Fred Daibes, and the Government of Egypt in Exchange for Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars of Bribes to Menendez and His Wife Nadine Menendez, Which Included Gold Bars, Cash, and a Luxury Convertible.”
The September 2022 unsealed indictments also charged Sticky Finger Bob’s wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez. The Senator and his wife devised a strategy to be tried separately, and the agreement was to blame Nadine for taking the bribes. This way, Bob could remain in the Senate and help her.
The scheme did not work. After his conviction, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer immediately called for Menendez to resign. Menendez could spend as much as 20 years behind bars for accepting cash and gold bars as bribes.
In summary, Senator Robert Menendez failed to register as a foreign agent. Consequently, the Department of Justice charged him with taking money and not telling the government.
