In a significant development, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey has been indicted on twelve fresh criminal charges. These charges are linked to an alleged multi-year bribery scheme involving the governments of Egypt and Qatar. This news comes on the heels of a guilty plea from a New Jersey businessman, previously indicted alongside Menendez, who has agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
Details of the New Charges
The new charges in the superseding indictment include conspiracy, obstruction of justice, a public official acting as a foreign agent, bribery, extortion, and honest services wire fraud. Prior to this, Menendez was facing four counts of conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, and conspiracy for a public official to act as a foreign agent. The fresh charges add the underlying substantive crimes to the existing conspiracy charges.
Menendez’s Response
Senator Menendez has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, accusing prosecutors of unfairly targeting him. CNN has reached out to Menendez for further comment on these new developments.
This story is being continually updated as more details emerge.