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Pro-Israel Sen. Menendez, wife indicted on bribe charges, as probe finds $100,000 in gold bars

By AP 22 September 2023, 6:06 pm Edit
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., right, and his wife Nadine Arslanian, pose for a photo on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., right, and his wife Nadine Arslanian, pose for a photo on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

US Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife have been indicted on charges that they took bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car for a range of corrupt acts, including having the Democrat use his influence over foreign affairs to benefit the authoritarian government of Egypt.

A search of the couple’s home turned up $100,000 in gold bars and $480,000 in hidden cash, say prosecutors, who announced the charges against the 69-year-old Democrat nearly six years after an earlier criminal case against him ended with a deadlocked jury.

The latest indictment is unrelated to the earlier charges that alleged Menendez accepted lavish gifts to pressure government officials on behalf of a Florida doctor.

A lawyer for Menendez’s wife didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Messages were left for Menendez’s Senate spokesperson and his political consultant.

The Senate Historical Office says Menendez appears to be the first sitting senator in US history to have been indicted on two unrelated criminal allegations. Menendez faces reelection next year in a bid to extend his three-decade career in Washington as Democrats hold a narrow majority in the Senate.

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