SEN. MENENDEZ GUILTY
BOB MENENDEZ AND 2 CO-CONSPIRATORS FOUND GUIULTY ON ATLL 16 CHARGES. HIS WIFE TO BE TRIED SEPARATELY.
Image above sourced by the United States Department of Justice. Bob Menendez, his wife Nadine Tabourian Arslanian and Egyptian Businessman Wael Hana.
The Conviction of Senator Bob Menendez and the Implications for U.S.-Egypt Relations
By SNN.BZ Staff
On July 16, 2024, Senator Bob Menendez, a veteran New Jersey Democrat, was found guilty on all counts in a sweeping corruption trial.
The charges against Menendez were extensive, including bribery, extortion, acting as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice, and several counts of conspiracy. The case has drawn significant attention due to its international implications and the high-profile nature of the individuals involved.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were accused of accepting bribes in the form of gold bars, stacks of cash, and a Mercedes-Benz. These bribes were allegedly given in exchange for Menendez using his political influence to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
The prosecution argued that Menendez abused his leadership role in U.S. foreign policy to approve deals favoring the Egyptian regime, discourage aid conditionality, and share nonpublic information with Egyptian security and military officials.
Nadine Menendez’s trial, however, has been postponed indefinitely due to her ongoing battle with breast cancer. Her involvement in the case adds another layer of complexity to an already intricate legal situation.Two other Egyptian-Americans, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were also charged in connection with the case.
They, along with the Menendez couple, were accused of aiding corporations in Egypt against American interests. This alleged activity raises serious questions about the intersection of personal gain, political power, and national security.The conviction of Menendez marks a significant moment in American politics and jurisprudence. It underscores the importance of maintaining ethical standards in public office and sends a clear message about the consequences of corruption. However, the case also highlights the complex and often murky world of international relations, where personal, national, and corporate interests can become deeply intertwined.
As for the sentencing, Menendez and his co-defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on October 29. The sentencing will mark the culmination of a case that has captured national attention and sparked widespread debate about corruption, foreign influence in American politics, and the ethical responsibilities of those in power.In conclusion, the conviction of Senator Bob Menendez serves as a stark reminder of the importance of integrity in public office.
As the legal proceedings continue to unfold, they will undoubtedly prompt further reflection on the nature of political power, the role of money in politics, and the impact of foreign interests on American policy decisions.
This MENENDEZ corruption story was first published on September 22, 2023 on the same day that New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, his wife Nadine Tabourian Arslanian, Wael “Will” Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes were indicted.
At the time, the senator and his wife were not charged with the unauthorized representation of Egypt. This superseding indictment includes their FARA law violation charges for representing Egypt’s interests over those of the United States Department of Agriculture.
A new, critical development in the bribery case has come to light. A senior USDA official has testified that he received a call from his immediate boss telling him that he would be receiving a direct call from Senator Bob Menendez on his private cell phone.
The USDA senior officer testified that in May of 2019, Ted McKinney was serving as Under Secretary of Agriculture for the Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Department.
At the time McKinney had been in the middle of working on trying to reverse an odd decision by Egyptian officials to grant a monopoly to one company to certify halal meat exports to Egypt. McKinney believed that the decision would negatively affect American beef interests.
On the witness stand, McKinney recalled, “I will never forget the words.” He said that Senator Menendez “ordered him” to “stop interfering with his constituent.”
IS EG Halal, is a New Jersey based Egyptian company led by Wael (Willy) Hana who is also named in the indictment against Senator Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine Tabourian Arslanian. Her trial will be delayed until after her cancer treatment. The monopoly Senator Menendez and his wife helped establish is not only illegal, but it also goes against United States Department of Agriculture treaties pertaining to international trade agreements already in place.
Senator Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine Tabourian Arslanian have now been indicted with the very serious charge identifying that the couple conspired with Egyptian nationals to act as foreign agents for Egypt while Bob Menendez was simultaneously the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Nadine Tabourian Arslanian had a friendship with Wael Hana, long “before” she married senator Bob Menendez.
Her WhatsAPP account and her phone text messages provided a great deal of the evidence for this case.
NEW “SUPERSEDING” INDICTMENT
Bob Menendez’ current wife Nadine Tabourian Arslanian (born in Lebanon) killed Richard Koop, 49, (a pedestrian) right before she married Bob Menendez. Nadine Tabourian Arslanian (also named in the indictment) was driving a Mercedes-Benz sedan in Bogota, New Jersey.
Jose Uribe, wanting to get out of a legal problem, asked Bob Menendez to use his authority as a high-ranking New Jersey politician for help him get his relative out of a criminal case (one hand washing the other). Born in Cristobal, Dominican Republic, it is uncertain whether Uribe has obtained U.S. citizenship yet or remains a Dominican Republic national. It was Uribe that gave Nadine Tabourian Arslanian the $15,000.00 USD she needed to pay the deposit to replace the’ Mercedes-Benz that had been totaled during the car crash in Bogota, NJ. Bob Menendez, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes are all named in the original indictment.
Nadine Tabourian Arslanian being questioned at the scene of Richard Koop fatality.
Menendez attorneys claim this is not TREASON. How is this not TREASON?
The indictment alleges that Menendez and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from 2018 to 2022. A search of New Jersey business registry revealed a business by the name of SIBC (Strategic International Business Consultants) with a NJ business registration number 0600460575. Nadine’s own relative testified to the authorities that Nadine told that relative that when she introduced businesspeople to one another, she charged fees for those introductions which were paid to her via SIBC.
Strategic International Business Consultants is a limited liability corporation registered in the State of New Jersey. The business registration shows Nadine Arslanian as its president. The bribes identified in this case were allegedly given in exchange for Menendez using his power and influence as a Senator to benefit Hana and the other businessmen, as well as the Egyptian Military.
The bribes reportedly included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value. Hana’s company was granted exclusive rights to certify halal meat being exported to Egypt, and Menendez is accused of improperly advising and pressuring a U.S. agricultural official to safeguard this contract for Hana.
Nadine Tabourian Arslanian and Egyptian Businessman Wael Hana.
ORIGINAL INDICMENT
CORRUPTION
Corruption typically involves a public official using his or her position for personal gain, which can include accepting bribes or engaging in other forms of dishonest practices. In the case of Senator Bob Menendez, the indictment alleges that he accepted bribes in exchange for using his power and influence to benefit certain businessmen and the Egyptian government.
TREASON
On the other hand, treason is a very specific crime that involves betraying one’s country by levying war against it or by providing aid and comfort to its enemies. The Constitution specifically identifies what constitutes treason against the United States and limits the offense of treason to only two types of conduct:
- “Levying war” against the United States; or
- “Adhering to the enemies of the United States, by giving them aid and comfort.”
While feeding information to a foreign military could potentially be seen as providing “aid and comfort” to an enemy, it would depend on whether that country is officially considered an enemy of the United States. Furthermore, a charge of treason requires a very high standard of proof.
Therefore, while Menendez’s actions as alleged in the indictment may be considered corrupt, they may not meet the specific criteria required for a charge of treason.
However, this would ultimately be a decision for the courts to make based on all the evidence presented.
Ten years ago, Menendez visited the Dominican Republic where he paid teenagers for sex. First, understand and accept that prostitution is “legal” in the Dominican Republic. Salomon Melgen accompanied Menendez to the Dominican Republic. The teen girls interviewed by world media identified Menendez and Melgen out of arrays of photographs of men relatively the same age.
