XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.democrats, nj.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: seriously.hang.them@congress.gov   
      
   On 26 Sep 2023, Gerry posted some   
   news:uf029t$2p2id$8@dont-email.me:   
      
   > Hillary sucks black Russian dicks.   
      
   Powerful New Jersey Democratic senator Bob Menendez was indicted Friday on   
   eye-popping corruption charges. According to the Justice Department,   
   Menendez, his wife, and three businessmen were involved in a crooked   
   scheme in which the senator received hundreds of thousands of dollars in   
   bribes—including gold bars—in exchange for benefiting his associates and   
   the Egyptian government.   
      
   Menendez's wife, Nadine Menendez, and her friend Wael Hana, an Egyptian-   
   American businessman with "close connections" to Egyptian officials,   
   cooked up the "corrupt agreement," according to the federal indictment.   
   Hana had the help of New Jersey businessmen Fred Daibes and Jose Uribe,   
   who also received kickbacks from the deal, the indictment alleges.   
      
   It's the second time in 10 years that Bob Menendez has faced federal   
   prosecution. A jury deadlocked in 2015 over different corruption charges   
   against the senator. This time, however, the charges are even more   
   shocking—and the potential penalties even more severe.   
      
   What Menendez Allegedly Took   
      
   Cash money: As part of the scheme, Bob and Nadine Menendez received over   
   $480,000 in cash—"much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in   
   clothing, closets, and a safe"—along with "over $70,000 in Nadine   
   Menendez's safe deposit box," according to prosecutors. Some of the   
   envelopes contained the fingerprints and DNA of Daibes or his driver.   
      
   A Mercedes and home swag: Federal agents in June 2022 found the cash while   
   executing a search warrant on the Menendezes' home and safe deposit box.   
   They also found "home furnishings" provided by Daibes or Uribe and a   
   Mercedes-Benz C-300 paid for by Uribe, prosecutors say.   
      
   Gold bullion: Federal agents discovered gold bars in the Menendez home   
   worth more than $100,000, according to the indictment. The bars, which   
   weigh one kilogram each and have the markings of the "Swiss Bank   
   Corporation," were allegedly provided by either Hana or Daibes.   
      
   What Menendez Allegedly Did   
      
   Sold national secrets to Egypt: Menendez allegedly "provided sensitive   
   U.S. government information and took other steps that secretly aided the   
   government of Egypt," according to the indictment. Following a 2018   
   meeting with Hana, Menendez requested and received sensitive, non-public   
   information from the State Department on "the number and nationality" of   
   employees at the U.S. embassy in Egypt, according to the indictment. He   
   allegedly texted that information to Nadine, then his girlfriend, who   
   forwarded it to Hana, who in turn forwarded it to an Egyptian government   
   official.   
      
   Secretly lobbied the United States on behalf of Egypt: In May 2018, at the   
   direction of an Egyptian official, Bob Menendez "secretly edited and   
   ghost-wrote" a letter on behalf of Egypt meant to persuade other U.S.   
   senators to release a hold on $300 million in aid to the country,   
   prosecutors say. Following a meeting with an Egyptian intelligence   
   official, the senator in spring 2019 demanded that an Agriculture   
   Department official drop the department's objections to a "lucrative   
   monopoly" on the certification of halal food, owned by Hana, according to   
   the indictment. Prosecutors allege that after a March 2020 meeting with an   
   Egyptian official about a disputed dam on the Nile River, Menendez sent   
   letters to various U.S. agencies urging action.   
      
   Meddled with the justice system: The senator on two separate occasions in   
   2019 attempted to strong-arm a prosecutor in the New Jersey Attorney   
   General's Office into resolving cases in Uribe's favor, according to the   
   indictment. In exchange for Menendez's interference in the first case,   
   Uribe gave Nadine Menendez the Mercedes-Benz convertible, worth more than   
   $60,000, prosecutors say. They add that while Bob Menendez was interfering   
   in the second case, he and his wife had a celebratory dinner with Uribe   
   and another associate.   
      
   Supported nomination of U.S. attorney he thought would go easy on his   
   friend: Menendez in 2021 recommended the nomination of Philip Sellinger as   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)   
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