Menendez told top USDA official to ‘stop interfering’ with company accused of offering bribes

Politico ^ | 5/31/24 | Daniel Han

[Libloather]

NEW YORK — In May 2019, a senior official at the USDA was told by his then-chief-of-staff that Sen. Bob Menendez would call his personal cell phone in around an hour.

The agriculture official, Ted McKinney, had been trying to get Egyptian officials to reverse their decision to grant a new company a monopoly certifying halal meat exported to that country. That decision, he recalled from the witness stand of Menendez’s corruption trial Friday, was “very unusual” and could hurt American beef interests.

McKinney said that he would “never forget the words” Menendez told him during the brief call: “Stop interfering with my constituent.”

The call is a key account that prosecutors cited in their case against Menendez, who is accused of receiving bribes to benefit New Jersey businesspeople and the Egyptian government. Federal prosecutors allege that lucrative halal certification monopoly granted to IS EG Halal, a New Jersey company led by Wael “Will” Hana, helped supply funds used to bribe Menendez.

In spring 2019, Egyptian officials decided to decertify all halal meat certification companies in the country except for IS EG Halal. The decision came as a surprise to American agriculture officials, recalled McKinney, who now leads the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.

McKinney said that America dominated beef liver exports to Egypt at the time; beef livers were a key profit stream for American beef companies. But if a single company had the halal certification monopoly, that could raise prices for Egyptian customers — thus dissuading purchases of American meat, he said.

Before McKinney received the call from Menendez, he reached out to the Egyptian ambassador in Washington, D.C., and his counterpart in the Egyptian government overseeing agricultural issues asking them to reconsider the new monopoly. Both times, he said, he received no response.

[Libloather]

Then Menendez called.

I still blame the wife. It's all her fault.

[kiryandil]

Menendez received money from no one in particular...

[Omnivore-Dan]

I live in Jersey and the one thing that bothers me about this is that I’m surprised there is really only this one major case involving a corrupt political official. This state is loaded with corruption.

[Judge Bean]

He confronted Biden on Immigration. I suspect he was given one warning, STAY on the Democratic Plantation.

[marron]

I don’t think his corruption is new or a surprise, nor is he unique. So I wonder why they’ve decided to go after him, and why now?