By Jesus Garcia
Sep 22, 2023, 3:50 PM EDT
The bribery indictment against Senator Bob Menéndez and his wife Nadine reveals that they both tried to hide traces, in emails and messages, of how they operated to benefit three New Jersey businessmen and the government of Egypt.
The allegations indicate that Senator Menéndez would have discussed issues regarding military contracts, in addition to favoring businessmen to achieve benefits in the importation of halal meat.
The businessmen also named as accused are Wael “Will” Hana, José Uribe and Fred Daibe.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York indicates that Hana obtained lucrative exclusive rights to certify halal meat exports, thanks to Menéndez’s influence, including in negotiations on US arms exports to Egypt.
Nadine Menéndez told her husband a request from an Egyptian official, who was seeking help from the Democratic senator to edit and draft a letter, in order to pressure other senators on arms deals.
Senator Menéndez, the document says, “secretly edited and ghost-wrote the requested letter,” which was sent from his personal email to his wife, who forwarded the document to his accomplice, who sent it to Egyptian officials.
The accusation states that Menéndez and his wife tried to hide any evidence of their actions, trying to delete the email in which she asked the senator to edit the letter sent to Egyptian officials.
However, Nadine Menéndez complained to her husband that they had not received the remainder of any agreed-upon payment, despite meetings between the Menéndezes, their businessman accomplices, and Egyptian officials.
“I thought after everything that happened, especially last Saturday and that week, he would at least keep his word once,” Nadine said, referring to the payments.
Nadine accused Daibes of non-compliance and asked Senator Menendez if she should send Daibes a message. The senator asked his wife not to send messages or emails about the payments.
“No, you should not text or email,” Menendez told his wife.
The senator has rejected the accusations, according to a statement sent to this newspaper.
“Since this investigation was leaked almost a year ago, there has been an active smear campaign from anonymous sources and innuendo to create a scenario of impropriety where none exists,” Senator Menendez said.
Keep reading:
· Senator Bob Menéndez and his wife are accused of bribery to favor three businessmen in New Jersey
· They find more than $480,000 dollars and gold bars in the home of Senator Bob Menéndez and his wife