On September 22, 2023 Senator Robert “Bob” Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, was indicted by the Justice Department. In this sweeping indictment, investigators allege that Menendez and his wife took bribes from Egypt, using his power to give them foreign aid. Also, they said Menendez allegedly used his office to apply pressure against people investigating his associates. 

This isn’t the first time Menendez has gotten into legal trouble. Back in 2017 Menendez was also indicted for luxury trips with a Florida doctor — but the case ended in a mistrial and prosecutors decided not to retry him. The last senator to be indicted before Menendez was Ted Stevens of Alaska, a Republican, in 2008. Menendez is the second senator to be indicted from New Jersey, making it the state with the most senators indicted.  

In the transcript from the indictment there are many troubling accusations, the foremost of which is that Menendez used his political power to influence the United States into giving military aid to Egypt; something the state department was reluctant to do because of Egypts human rights record. He did this in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from an Egyptian American businessman, Wael Hana. 

Hana was introduced to Menendez in 2018 by his then girlfriend, now wife, Nadine Arslanian. Hana then gave Menendez a no show job, and in exchange Menendez carried out various tasks assigned to him by Egyptian officials that Hana had connected him with. These included using his position on the foreign affairs committee to greenlight billions of dollars in military aid to Egypt. Additionally, he helped write a letter for an Egyptian official, lobbying the US government on Egypts behalf. In exchange for bribes, Menendez also attempted to influence the trials of associates of a businessman who was helping to pay his bribes, Jose Uribe. One of the men, called in the indictment “New Jersey Defendant,” was being charged with insurance fraud linked to a trucking company owned by Uribe. In exchange for a Mercedes- Benz convertible worth 60,000 dollars given to Arslanian, Menendez agreed to call someone in the indictment who is known by the pseudonym “Official-2.” He then tried to pressure Official-2 in being more lenient to the New Jersey Defendant. Though Official-2 found Menendez’s behavior inappropriate and didn’t intervene in the case on Uribe’s behalf, the New Jersey Defendant got a plea deal favorable to Uribe.

In the indictment there was another person associated with Uribe, called “New Jersey Investigative Subject,” who was an insurance broker involved in the fraud case of the New Jersey Defendant. Menendez agreed to meet with Official-2 again to pressure him into being more lenient to the defendant. Menendez described the meeting as going very well. Several nights later Menendez, Arslanian, Uribe and one of Uribes’ associates met up for dinner, and toasted with champagne. “I just got a call and I am a very happy person.” Uribe had texted Arslanian. 

In contrast with the Trump indictment where most republicans leaped to defend Trump, many Democrats have called for his resignation. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the first to call for his resignation, with many other Senators following; including Corey Booker, the other New Jersey Democratic senator. There are only a few Democrats offering him lukewarm support, mostly pointing out he hasn’t been charged yet. “It’s up to the people of New Jersey,” said Ben Ray Lujan, a Democratic senator from New Mexico. “They’ll be making a decision in the next few months.” Senator Menendez has refused to step down, stating that he is innocent, in a press conference in Hudson County, NJ. “Remember: Prosecutors get it wrong sometimes. Sadly, I know that.”