Oct. 23 (UPI) — Sen. Bob Menendez is set to be arraigned in a Manhattan courtroom Monday after additional charges were announced against him last week.
Menendez, D-N.J., is expected to plead not guilty to recent criminal charges brought by the Justice Department.
The charges, detailed in a superseding indictment on Oct. 12 charged Menendez with an additional criminal count of conspiracy.
They allege that, in his capacity as a public official, he conspired to act as a foreign agent for Egypt by accepting bribes from January 2018 to at least June 2022.
Menendez’s co-defendants, which include his wife, Nadine Menendez, and businessman Wael Hana, entered pleas of not guilty to the new charges in Manhattan court last week.
The defendants had already previously been accused of bribery, with claims that Menendez and his spouse received cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes convertible in exchange for exploitation of their political clout.
The indictment also accused Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes as being involved in the corruption.
Hana, an Egyptian-American, is the founder of a halal meat certification company. Uribe is a former insurance agent, and Daibes is a real estate developer.
Following his indictment last month, Menendez stepped down from his role as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair, however, there’s a growing call from lawmakers for him to relinquish his Senate seat in response to the corruption accusations.
Menendez maintains his innocence regarding all the charges.