Why the Indictment of Senator Menendez is Dangerous
We all have noticed with some suprise and even shock over the Indictment of New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, his wife Nadine and three businessmen from New Jersey with ties to the Egyptian Security Establishment earlier this month on bribery charges. The Senator and his wife have pled not guilty to these charges.
The facts of the matter are difficult to challenge. Over $100,000 in Gold were seized from the residence of the Senator along with over $470,000 in cash. The evidence that is being presented is indeed a challenge. There is some speculation that these payments were an effort to recruit the Senator to be an agent for the Egyptian Government. But still one question remains. Why seize this evidence then indict him sixteen months later?
However this is not the first time Senator Menendez has had legal issues. The Senator was indicted for Bribery back in 2017 regarding his ties to a eye doctor which had the Senator accused of exerting influence over several issues including obtaining Visas for the girlfriends of the doctor and attempting to speed up the delivery of Port Security equipment to the Dominican Republic. That case ended in a Mistrial.
Now to the 2023 case. The damage that this indictment has caused to US Foreign Policy has yet to be fully seen. Already the Senator has had to resign from his Chairman’s position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. That is just the first piece of the puzzle.
Right now we are witnessing an attempt by the Democratic Party to punish Egypt for their role in the drama. Before the Indictment was even announced there were reports that the State Department was going to reduce some of the Aid that was being given to Egypt and that it would be sent to Lebanon. When this was first announced it did catch some by surprise. However after the Menendez indictment this appears to be a case of political retribution.
Already House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries has indicated that they would like to see the rest of the Military Assistance to Egypt suspended. The Democrats are acting like they were embarrased by this event.
However there are other reasons why this is dangerous to US Policy.
Senator Menendez has been critical over the plans of the Biden Administration to sell F-16s to Turkey. This is an offer to compensate Turkey from being removed from the F-35 program. The Turkish Government has worked against US interests in both Northeastern Syria and Kurdistan as well.
On September 14th the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing regarding the situation in Artsakh or as it’s more popularly referred to as Nogorno-Karabakh. The opening statement by Senator Menendez was critical in the silence of the Biden Administation regarding the situation on the ground. A week later He would be indicted on the Egyptian Bribery charges.
He has been critical of the Biden Administration policy towards Iran as well. The recent deal to exchange $6 Billion for 5 Hostages being held by Iran was concluded before this indictment was unsealed.It should be no surprise to learn that the Governments of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran are celebrating this decison.
The optics of the indictment are bad for the Biden Administration. Yes the raid of the Menendez residence took place 16 months ago. So why wait until now to unseal it? People was assess that it was done for a political reason to silence a voice critical of the Biden Administration in several key areas. That will be a difficult image to disprove especially since the Senator has announced that he is seeking reeelection.
Justice is supposed to be blind however it appears to be Politically wielded as well
