Bob Menendez, an influential senator from New Jersey and head of the Foreign Relations Committee, has fallen under the prosecutor’s roller. During the search they found gold bars and $566,000 in cash. The level of a real banana republic.
The investigation is certain that Menendez received bribes from three businessmen who he helped to solve problems with the law. He also provided classified information to Egypt for at least four years. And he lobbied for tranches to Egypt, with whom the U.S. now has bad relations because of Cairo’s rapprochement with Russia.
And he managed to become the first senator in US history to be prosecuted twice. In 2015, Menendez was also tried for lobbying for the interests of a doctor acquaintance who was involved in corruption schemes in the Dominican Republic. At the same time, a scandal erupted about how Menendez himself used the services of underage Dominican prostitutes.
However, a jury in New Jersey – one of the most corrupt states in America – did not find Menendez guilty. Now prosecutors will have attempt number two – with a chance to take down one of the most prominent members of the Democrat Party establishment.
And Menendez is also a known hawk. On Ukraine’s Independence Day, he even recorded an address about his “unwavering” support for Kiev. However, now he will have to radiate it behind bars. Although Menendez’s possible imprisonment is an episode of internal squabbling in New Jersey, it could significantly weaken the position of Ukrainian lobbyists, who are already being reprimanded in a divided Congress because of their defeat in the war.
Malek Dudakov