Sen. Bob Menendez, once top Senate foreign policy chairman, accused of acting as foreign agent

• Federal prosecutors say Sen. Bob Menendez acted as a foreign agent on the behalf of Egypt.
• They claimed in a new indictment that Menendez should have registered as a foreign lobbyist.
• During most of the time of his alleged criminal bribery scheme, Menendez was the top Senate Democrat for foreign policy issues.

Federal prosecutors said on Thursday that Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez acted as an unregistered foreign agent when he accepted alleged bribes in exchange for using his office to benefit the Egyptian government.

In a new superseding indictment, prosecutors added the foreign agent charge to the litany of alleged offenses Menendez, his wife Nadine Menendez, and a New Jersey businessman face. Prosecutors previously said that the Menendezes accepted everything from gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz C-300 to a recliner in exchange for their assistance.

At the time of his alleged offenses, Menendez was the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also led the powerful panel after Democrats retook the Senate majority in 2021. Menendez previously stepped down from his chairmanship amid his legal fight.

The new indictment contains a redacted photograph of Menendez, his then-girlfriend, and Will Hana, the New Jersey businessman who helped facilitate the bribes, meeting in Menendez's Senate office in March 2018. Unnamed Egyptian officials also attended the meeting where prosecutors say "foreign military financing to Egypt" was discussed. Hana and the senator's future wife arranged the meeting.

"Later that same day, Menendez sought from the State Department non-public information regarding the number and nationality of persons serving at the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt," the indictment reads. "Although, this information was not classified, it was deemed highly sensitive because it could pose significant operational security concerns if disclosed to a foreign government or made public."

Prosecutors say that without telling his staff, Menendez then texted this information to his then-girlfriend, Nadine.

Just over a year later, the couple and Hanna along with an unnamed Egyptian official met a DC steakhouse. According to prosecutors, they discussed the opposition the US Department of Agriculture had to Hanna establishing a monopoly on the certification of US food exports to Egypt as compliant with halal standards.

"[W]hat else can the love of my life do for you," prosecutors allege Nadine said during the meal.

The love, Sen. Menendez, is alleged to have later called a top USDA official, pressuring the department to leave Hanna's company alone.

As a lawmaker, Menendez is prohibited from being a lobbyist, let alone an unregistered lobbyist for a foreign government. Nonetheless, prosecutors claim that Menendez's official acts, including providing "sensitive US government information" rose to the threshold of him being considered a foreign lobbyist. By law, people lobbying on behalf of a foreign government must register with the Department of Justice. Issues surrounding foreign lobbying took renewed interest during the Trump administration when multiple officials were accused of running afoul of The Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Prosecutors also say Menendez should have known better because he once pushed for the Justice Department to investigate whether a former House lawmaker violated FARA. While prosecutors did not name the former lawmaker in question, they are likely referencing Menendez's efforts to get the DOJ to investigate former Republican congressman David Rivera over alleged work for Venezuela's state oil company.