Already facing indictment, NJ Sen. Bob Menendez hit with new charge alleging he conspired to act as foreign agent for Egypt

Embattled New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez was hit with a new charge Thursday in his Manhattan case alleging he conspired to act as a foreign agent for Egypt while in the powerful position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The superseding indictment comes weeks after Menendez and his wife, Nadine, were charged in a sweeping indictment with bribery and extortion charges alleging they accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from three New Jersey businessmen in the form of gold bullion bars, stacks of cash and a sports car in exchange for working to advance corrupt interests of the authoritarian nation.

Prosecutors say Menendez, his wife, and one of the businessmen charged conspired to have the seasoned lawmaker act as an agent of behalf of the Government of Egypt and various Egyptian officials from January 2018 through June 2022.

The indictment alleges that in 2018, shortly after Menendez began dating Nadine, she arranged a series of meetings and dinners with Egyptian officials, who made requests for military sales and financing.

Menendez and his wife promised he’d “use his power and authority to facilitate such sales and financing” in exchange for businessman Wael Hana putting Nadine on his company’s payroll for a low-or-no-show job, according to the indictment.

The feds included a stunning photo of Menendez meeting with Egyptian military officials at his Senate office in Washington, D.C. in March 2018 where they allegedly discussed military financing.

In an ironic twist, the new court papers show prosecutors quoting Menendez in 2020 calling for an investigation into an unnamed former member of Congress for allegedly failing to register as a foreign agent as outlined in the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“The Act is clear that acting directly or indirectly in any capacity on behalf of a foreign principal triggers the requirement to register under (the Foreign Agents Registration Act),” Menendez wrote the head of the Justice Department’s security division in May 2020.

Menendez reiterated that request two years later, in May 2020, writing Attorney General Merrick Garland to say “it is imperative” the unnamed official be held to account for working to carry out a foreign government’s interests without registering.

“If (the Former Member of Congress) carried out work that requires registration under FARA, it is imperative that the Justice Department ensure he is held to account,” Menendez wrote.