Federal prosecutors filed new charges against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his wife Nadine: plotting to act as an agent for the Egyptian government.Not kidding:
From at least in or about January 2018 through at least in or about June 2022, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, ROBERT MENENDEZ, NADINE MENENDEZ, a/k/a “Nadine Arslanian,” and WAEL HANA, a/k/a “Will Hana,” the defendants, and others known and unknown, willfully and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed together and with each other to have a public official, to wit, ROBERT MENENDEZ, act as an agent of a foreign principal, to wit, the Government of Egypt and Egyptian officials, required to register under FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act], Title 22, United States Code, Sections 611 621, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 219.
Members of Congress and officials cannot agree or act as an agent for a foreign government.
The prosecutors accused Nadine and her friend of organizing meetings with the senator to persuade him “to use his power and authority to facilitate such sales and financing to Egypt” in exchange for luxury items and a low-or-no-show job for Nadine.
In March 2018, Egyptian military officials met with Nadine and Hana in Menendez’s senate office to discuss “foreign military financing to Egypt, among other topics.”
MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ again met with HANA on or about May 6, 2018. Later that same day, MENENDEZ sought from the State Department nonpublic information regarding the number and nationality of persons serving at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. Although this information was not classified, it was deemed highly sensitive because it could pose significant operational security concerns if disclosed to a foreign government or if made public. Without telling his professional staff, SFRC staff, or the State Department that he was doing so, on or about May 7, 2018, MENENDEZ texted that sensitive, non-public embassy information to his then-girlfriend NADINE MENENDEZ, writing:
Just FYI. [a number] Americans – combination of diplomats, commercial service, USAID, other [a number] Egyptians, locally employed staff. This is what’s at American embassy. [Summary of ratio] are Egyptians working at Embassy.
NADINE MENENDEZ forwarded this message to HANA, who forwarded it to an Egyptian government official (“Egyptian Official-2”).
During that same month, Hana treated Menendez to a dinner at a high-end restaurant. The senator allegedly gave Hana “non-=public information about the United States’s provision of military aid to Egypt.”
Nadine then allegedly told Egyptian Official-1, “The ban on small arms and ammunition to Egypt has been lifted. That means sales can begin. That will include sniper rifles among other articles.”
The attorney for Wael Hana sent us the following statement:
The following statement is attributable to Larry Lustberg, attorney for Wael Hana:
“The new allegation that Wael Hana was part of a plot concocted over dinner to enlist Senator Menendez as an agent of the Egyptian Government is as absurd as it is false. As with the other charges in this indictment, Mr. Hana will vigorously defend against this baseless allegation.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY