Free Republic

The Justice Department this week hit Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) with a superseding indictment including a new but all-too-familiar charge: being an unregistered foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). I cannot recall another sitting member of Congress being criminally charged as a foreign agent. Yet even if this is the first such case, the charge has been freely used by the Justice Department in all but one case: Hunter Biden. The indictment accuses Menendez of being a foreign agent on behalf of Egypt. Also charged under the law is Menendez’s wife, Nadine, and Egyptian American businessman Wael...

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) on Thursday called on the full Senate to vote on a resolution to expel Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) from the chamber in the wake of new charges asserting the New Jersey senator has acted as a foreign agent on behalf of Egypt. “Senator Menendez should not be a U.S. Senator. He should have been gone long ago. It is time for every one of my colleagues in the Senate to join me in expelling Senator Menendez,” he said in a statement. “We cannot have an alleged foreign agent in the United States Senate,” Fetterman added. “This...

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent on behalf of the Egyptian government. His wife, Nadine Menendez, as well as Egyptian American businessman Wael Hana were also charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent, according to a superseding indictment filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The latest indictment follows the not-guilty pleas that Bob and Nadine Menendez entered last month to charges that included bribery and exportation. Hana also pleaded not guilty last month, as did two other businessmen charged in the scandal:...

China poised to take over U.S. base at Ecuador's invitation Ecuador’s president has offered the Chinese government an airbase currently serving as one of the last U.S. military outposts in South America. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said during his recent visit to China that he would offer Beijing a lease on the Manta Airport, the presidential website reported last week. Currently, Manta is used by U.S. military forces for operations. The contract is up in 2009 and Correa will not renew it, a transport and public works ministry communications official told BNamericas. Correa said access to the air base is...

A 5-year-old deadly car crash is getting renewed attention because the driver is now the wife of U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, both of whom are facing federal charges alleging they took bribes. The crash happened in December of 2018, before they were married. Nadine Menendez was driving her Mercedes-Benz in Bogota, New Jersey, when she struck and killed a pedestrian. Police dash cam video shows her interaction with officers after the crash. "If we can clear you from any wrongdoing, I want to get you home and comfortable and not here anymore, you know what I'm saying," a Bogota police...

MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez began her program on a “personal note” Saturday as she declared that she’d stay clear of covering the indictment of her father, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). “Last week, a grand jury indicted U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez. This past week, dozens of members of his own party have demanded his resignation,” said the MSNBC anchor on her “American Voices” program. “I have been watching, along with all of you, as a citizen and also as his daughter. I will not be reporting on the legal case.” She then pointed to her own network’s reporting as she spoke just...

The great sartorial scandal over John Fetterman's signature hoodie-and-shorts has now come to a close after the Senate unanimously passed a resolution enacting a formal dress code. The resolution, brought forth by fellow Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin, W. Va., passed without a formal vote by unanimous consent and clarified that the Senate floor would have a formal dress code. Hours earlier, Fetterman had already announced he would wear a suit and tie while speaking or presiding over the Senate floor. Fetterman, like others, could still wear his trademark garb and vote from the cloak room on the edge of the...

The shorts were short-lived. The Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill that requires members to follow a dress code that will include a coat, tie, and slacks for men, ending controversy triggered over Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman displaying his casual style on the floor. “Though we’ve never had an official dress code, the events over the past week have made us all feel as though formalizing one is the right path forward,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “I deeply appreciate Senator Fetterman working with me to come to an agreement that we all find acceptable,...

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) took another swing at embattled New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez (D) on Thursday, saying he’s not interested in Menendez’s explanation. “Unless Senator Menendez is coming today to resign, I am not interested in hearing his ‘explanation’ for gold bars stashed in a mattress,” Fetterman’s statement read. “We’re past the point of his tough talk and defiance, given the scope and scale of his alleged corruption.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday held off from calling for Sen. Bob Menendez’s resignation after the New Jersey Democrat was charged by federal prosecutors with bribery and corruption. Schumer told reporters that he was “deeply disappointed” and “disturbed” when he read the indictment released late last week, which alleges that Menendez and his wife accepted bribes in order to enrich three New Jersey businessmen and benefit Egypt. “I’ve known Sen. Menendez a very long time and was truly, truly upset. But we all know that … for senators, there’s a much, much higher standard, and clearly when...

Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that his colleague Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was like the fictional mobster Tony Soprano when discussing the gold bars detailed in the lawmaker’s indictment on federal bribery charges. Fetterman said, “Honestly, I was actually surprised that I was the first one. I mean, it’s so black and white. I mean, it’s so clear. The last time there’s ever been a man with so much cash in their home in New Jersey was Tony Soprano. You know? I mean, it’s not a— it’s not a— it’s not a close call, and...

Democrat Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is one of the latest calling on Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to resign following federal allegations of bribery, doing so days after Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), his junior, and right as another Democrat has launched a primary challenge against him. “Public service is a sacred trust,” Casey, whose seat could be vulnerable in the 2024 election, wrote in a statement on Monday. “The specific allegations set forth in the federal indictment indicate to me that Senator Menendez violated that trust repeatedly,” Casey continued. “While he is entitled to the presumption of innocence, serving in public...

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tried to slam conservative media, claiming they will not report on the corruption investigation of U.S. Senator Bob Menendez. The Mexican president mistakenly claimed that conservative news outlets would provide cover for Menendez because he was a “Republican… from Texas.” The statements came during his Monday news conference where the Mexican politician briefly discussed the case. “These news outlets from the right, conservatives, are not going to say that they found gold bars,” Lopez Obrador said. “The Republican Senator, Bob Menendez from Texas, he has always been against us. They are not going to...

Sen. Menendez: "A cornerstone of the foundation of American democracy and our justice system is the principle that all people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The court of public opinion is no substitute for our revered justice system. We cannot set aside the resumption of innocence for political expediency when the harm is irrevocable... Instead of waiting for all the facts to be presented, others have rushed to judgment because they see a political opportunity for themselves or those around them."

Ana Navarro told her co-hosts Monday on ABC’s “The View” that she was “shaken” by the evidence in the federal indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) because she has worked with him for decades. Co-host Sunny Hostin said, “He had cash in the walls and cash in the closets. It’s just so in your face that it’s disgraceful. It’s disgraceful, and why do you think you can get away with it? I’m tired of hearing about Supreme Court justices taking luxury trips with billionaires. Navarro said, “I can tell you I have worked with him time and time again, brought...

'Probably don’t want to mention to Transatlantic in case we can’t deliver though I guess...' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ President Joe Biden and embattled son Hunter find themselves under scrutiny as their close ties to indicted Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., surface through a 2010 email obtained from Hunter’s infamous laptop. This revelation has raised questions about the extent of Biden’s connections with Menendez and has added to the mounting controversies surrounding the president, who is facing allegations of bribery himself. The emails reveal that Menendez’s chief of staff, Danny O’Brien, reached out to Hunter and his former business partner, Eric Schwerin, with a...

Embattled Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey is expected to defiantly announce Monday that he will seek re-election — less than a week after being indicted on explosive corruption charges. The 69-year-old Democrat issued a statement Friday, the day of his Manhattan federal indictment, insisting, “I’m not going anywhere” — despite widespread calls including from top officials in his own party to resign. Monday’s expected press conference would be his first in-person appearance since he and his wife were charged with taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, cash and...

In late 2020, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) met with Philip Sellinger, a private practice lawyer and former fundraiser for the senator, to assess his potential fit as the next U.S. attorney for the state of New Jersey - and to discuss one case in particular. If appointed, Sellinger would assume control of one of the largest prosecutor’s offices in the country, a post that comes with the power to bust mob bosses and go after corrupt public officials. But Menendez, federal prosecutors say, was fixated on a less consequential matter: ensuring the future prosecutor would act sympathetically toward a friend...

Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday he has no interest in running against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) following the New Jersey lawmaker’s indictment on federal bribery charges. When asked on NBC’s “Meet The Press” if he would run against Menendez, who is up for reelection in 2024, Christie said: “No, I have no interest in being in the United States Senate.”

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) should resign because of the “extremely serious” federal charges he faces. Partial transcript as follows: MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about some democratic politics. You were outspoken about George Santos, the New York congressman and said he should resign because of all the legal issues and ethical issues he was facing. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, as you know, has just been indicted on bribery charges. Should he resign? And what do you think of his statement that it has to...