Senator of the US State of New Jersey Bob Menendez, on trial for allegedly using his political power to back Egypt, is now being accused of using his political influence to help the Qatari government. 

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan stated that Menendez used his political power to ensure that Fred Daibes, a New Jersey developer, received support from a Qatari sheikh’s investment fund. Menendez was allegedly received bribes including cash, gold bars, Formula 1 tickets and designer watches[1].

Adam Fee, one of Menendez’s lawyers, expressed that the administration has no evidence to support the old or new charges against Menendez.

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, known for his anti-Türkiye stance, has been in trouble since September, when federal investigators filed bribery charges against him.

It will be recalled that Wael Hana - the Egyptian-American businessman who prosecutors say was the cornerstone of a corruption scheme that funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez - and two other co-conspirators were revealed to have made large payments, including for continued military aid to Egypt, to Menendez and his wife Nadine Arslanian[2], who previously explained during a program that she was born to Armenian parents in Beirut, Lebanon, that they had fled to Greece during the Lebanese civil war, then to London, and then moved to the United States. Menendez resigned as chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations but ignored members of Congress who urged him to resign from the Senate altogether.

On December 1st, 2023, Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman - another Senator supported by the Armenian diaspora - reiterated his call for the Senate to expel Menendez. Senator Fetterman told ABC's “The View” that Menendez should resign from the Senate.

This case was brought back into the public spotlight on December 4th, when the New York Post reported that the gold bars found in Menendez's home were linked to an armed robbery in 2013. In total, 13 gold bars and $566,000 in cash, some of it stuffed in the pockets of the senator’s jackets, were found during an FBI investigation into the alleged bribery scheme. The Post reported that Menendez faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted[3].

An article on the news website Counter Punch made two contradictory conclusions. As much as Democratic voters are alienated from those who are likely to be elected, this situation has had little impact on the general election[4].

Considering all the connections and commitments, we believe that the US authorities will not come up empty-handed if they investigate the corrupt Senator Menendez’s ties to Egypt and Qatar, as well as to the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus, Greece and Armenian diaspora.

*Photograph: https://www.thedailybeast.com/bob-menendez-indicted-all-the-dumbest-details-from-the-fbi-case