Democrats have a brewing scandal on their hands.
One of the party’s major figures sits at the center.
And now a top Democrat just got busted in this bombshell criminal investigation.
For the second time in seven years federal prosecutors are investigating powerful New Jersey Democrat Senator Robert Menendez – who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – on corruption charges.
This time the probe allegedly involves Menendez’s wife Nadine Arslanian and her connections to Wael Hana – who owns a company that is the only one in New Jersey permitted to certify halal meat exported to Egypt.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The probe dates back to at least 2019. Late that year, court records show, federal investigators executed search warrants at the home and office of Wael Hana, the founder of IS EG Halal, an Edgewater, N.J., company that was designated the only business allowed to certify halal meat being exported to Egypt. Mr. Hana is an associate of Ms. Arslanian, according to the people familiar with the matter.
Prosecutors were investigating possible undisclosed foreign lobbying in the U.S. and other potential violations of federal law, according to court documents filed in 2020 by Lawrence Lustberg, a lawyer for Mr. Hana, who was seeking the return of property seized by the government.
Prosecutors also subpoenaed New Jersey attorney Antranig Aslanian – who is friends with Ms. Arslanian and who also represented Hana.
“If she was somewhere and I saw her, I’d say, ‘Hey, would you like a drink?’” Aslanian told the Wall Street Journal. “I said to the U.S. attorney, ‘Is there something wrong with that? If I saw you out, I’d offer you a drink.’”
An advisor to Senator Menendez referred the Wall Street Journal back to a previous statement the senator’s office put out when this investigation first became public knowledge which read, “as always, should any official inquiries be made, the senator is available to provide any assistance that is requested of him or his office.”
Back in 2015 the Department of Justice indicted Senator Menendez on corruption charges for allegedly accepting $1 million in gifts, flights and vacations from a Florida doctor looking for favors from the government in the form of visas for girlfriends and assistance with a Medicare dispute in Puerto Rico.
The ensuing trial resulted in a mistrial on some charges and a judge acquitting Menendez on the remaining charges in 2018.
Federal prosecutors opted not to take a second bite at the apple and retry Senator Menendez.
This latest corruption probe is unrelated to the 2015 case.
Senator Menendez is up for re-election in 2024.
And this scandal makes it an open question as to if Menendez’s name will appear on the ballot in two years.
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