Sen. Bob Menendez hit with new conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges

CNN —

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted Tuesday on a dozen new criminal charges related to a years-long bribery scheme involving the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

The new charges come days after Jose Uribe, one of the New Jersey businessmen who was previously indicted alongside Menendez, his wife Nadine Menendez, and two others, agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with the investigation.

Among the new charges in the superseding indictment are conspiracy, obstruction of justice, public official acting as a foreign agent, bribery, extortion and honest services wire fraud.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife Nadine Menendez arrive at the federal courthouse in New York, September 27, 2023.

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Menendez had faced four counts of conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, and conspiracy for a public official to act as a foreign agent.

The new charges add the underlying so-called substantive crimes to the conspiracy charges.

Menendez has denied any wrongdoing and accused prosecutors of targeting him.

“Not content – or capable – of meeting those facts fairly at trial, the government has now falsely alleged a cover-up and obstruction,” Menendez said in a statement Tuesday.

“The latest charge reveals far more about the government than it says about me,” the senator added. “It says that the prosecutors are afraid of the facts, scared to subject their charges to the fair-minded scrutiny of a jury, and unconstrained by any sense of justice or fair play. It says, once