Could Sen. Bob Menendez be expelled over indictment alleging he acted as a foreign agent?
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Sen. Bob Menendez is expected to appear at a federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday to enter a plea over charges that allege he acted as a foreign agent for Egypt.
The superseding indictment, filed Thursday, alleges that the New Jersey senator, his wife Nadine Menendez and New Jersey businessman Wael Hanna, violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The Democratic senator denied working against his country in a statement, according to The Hill.
“The government’s latest charge flies in the face of my long record of standing up for human rights and democracy in Egypt and in challenging leaders of that country, including President (Abdel Fattah) el-Sisi, on these issues,” Menendez said.
“I have been, throughout my life, loyal to only one country — the United States of America, the land my family chose to live in democracy and freedom.”
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The superseding indictment alleges that the New Jersey senator, his wife and Hanna, violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
The charges say Menendez worked to further the interests of the Egyptian government, which included advocating for aid to Cairo and blocking a dam project on the Nile River, in exchange for bribes, according to The New York Times.
Menendez and his wife already pleaded not guilty to an indictment on bribery and corruption charges. Federal agents conducted a search of the Menendez family’s home and said they found over $480,000 in cash in envelopes, clothing in the closets, over $100,000 worth of gold bars, a luxury vehicle in the garage, and $70,000 in a safe deposit box.
Some Democratic lawmakers have been quick to call for the New Jersey senator’s expulsion. Leading the effort is Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., who is campaigning for Menendez’s seat.
“As a former national security official who swore an oath to defend our Constitution, I cannot stand by as the senator representing my family and my state has been accused of acting as a foreign agent,” Kim said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Thursday. “Given the severity of these charges, the U.S. Senate should vote on expulsion.”
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Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania also criticized Menendez, saying he “should not be a U.S. Senator.”
“It is time for every one of my colleagues in the Senate to join me in expelling Senator Menendez,” he wrote on X. “We cannot have an alleged foreign agent in the United States Senate. This is not a close call.”
Menendez is serving his third term and is up for reelection next year. He spent many of those years heading the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, from which he has since stepped down.
Expelling him requires a two-thirds majority or 67 votes. Even if all Democratic senators band behind Fetterman, they will need at least 20 Republicans to join.
But so far, Republicans haven’t disavowed Menendez. It may be because Menendez — a Democrat — leans right when it comes to foreign policy. Or the fact that bad publicity might bring down the senator’s chances for reelection, and potentially give Republicans an edge in the next election.
Steve Benen, a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” speculated in an MSNBC opinion article that Republicans might also benefit from Menendez staying put in the Senate because “it would almost certainly mean that Donald Trump is equally unsuitable for positions of public trust.”
“It’s apparently easier to stay silent on Menendez than try to explain why the senator should resign but the suspected felon/Republican frontrunner should return to the White House,” Benen wrote.
