By JAKE OFFENHARTZ, ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
NEW YORK — Powerful Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey was charged Friday with secretly aiding the authoritarian government of Egypt and trying to thwart the criminal prosecution of a friend in exchange for gold bars and cash under a corruption indictment that accuses him of using his foreign affairs influence for personal gain.
Menendez was forced to relinquish his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but said he would not resign from Congress, though New Jersey’s governor, a fellow Democrat, said he should.
The indictment, the second in eight years against the 69-year-old senator, alleges an illegal commingling of Menendez’s obligations to advance U.S. priorities and his private interest in cultivating relationships with wealthy businessmen. It also includes charges against his wife and three New Jersey businessmen who authorities say showered the couple with money, gold and a luxury car in exchange for official favors.
A previous indictment of Menendez stemming from different allegations ended in 2017 with a deadlocked jury.
Hours after the latest case was unsealed, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy demanded Menendez’s immediate resignation, saying the allegations were “so serious that they compromise” the senator’s ability to serve. Additional calls for him to resign came from New Jersey Reps. Andy Kim and Mikie Sherrill among others.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Menendez would step down as chairman of the Foreign Relations panel “until the matter has been resolved,” as per the rules of the Senate Democratic caucus, but Schumer stopped short of calling for him to to resign.
Menendez in an emailed statement accused prosecutors of misrepresenting “the normal work of a congressional office” and said he would not allow his work in the Senate to be distracted by “baseless allegations.”
Authorities who searched Menendez’s home last year found more…
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