OPINION:
Who knew the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee preferred gold bullion to fiat currency? If the allegations outlined on Thursday in a revised federal indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez are true, a pair of gold bars sourced to an Egyptian influence peddler were uncovered in a raid on the New Jersey Democrat’s home.
Prosecutors in the Department of Justice say Mr. Menendez accepted the ingots in return for his official support on matters of concern to the Middle Eastern nation. G-men also reported finding in the senator’s closet clothing stuffed with hidden envelopes of cash — nearly half a million dollars’ worth — like something out of the television series “Breaking Bad.”
The senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, also allegedly enjoyed use of a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible whose payments were covered by a third party.
In DOJ’s telling, Mrs. Menendez played the role of intermediary, communicating with a businessman who conveyed orders he received from the Egyptian government officials seeking favors from Washington.
As the recipient of an annual stream of $1 billion worth of military assistance from the United States, Egypt needed Mr. Menendez on its side. By tradition, the State Department won’t allow an arms transfer if the Foreign Relations Committee chairman objects.
When Egypt sought sensitive but unclassified information about the composition of the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, prosecutors allege it knew where to turn. In response to a forwarded request, Mr. Menendez allegedly texted the desired details to Mrs. Menendez, who forwarded them to Wael Hana, a businessman, who provided the material to an Egyptian official.
Mr. Hana supposedly compensated Mrs. Menendez by hiring her for a no-show job, making payments to a consulting company set up by Mrs. Menendez. She reportedly texted a relative: “every time I’m in a middle person for a deal I am asking to get paid and this is my consulting company.”
According to the indictment, the senator also provided nonpublic information about the resumption of a $99 million shipment of tank shells to Egypt to his wife, who in turn sent the news through the same chain of intermediaries to an Egyptian official, who replied with a thumbs-up emoji.
Assuming the truth of DOJ statements at face value is difficult given the outright lies in several recent indictments. That said, it would be even harder for a lifetime public servant to explain piles of unreported cash and gold. But this is the second time the department has gone after the Garden State’s senior senator, and a jury deadlocked when considering evidence of corruption in 2017.
The purported quid pro quo in the present case is convoluted, which may give sympathetic blue-state jurors room to declare themselves unconvinced. This makes it all the more curious that the far simpler case against the first family hasn’t been filed.
The evidence of a global influence-peddling scheme involving President Biden and Hunter Biden is far more compelling. Instead of having to wiretap the president’s son, the feds need only to have perused the contents of Hunter’s infamous laptop, as it contains a trove of damning evidence.
One could forgive Mr. Menendez for feeling cheated if he’s the one who ends up behind bars while the Bidens walk free.
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