Month: October 2023

According to new court documents unsealed on Thursday, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, have been accused by the Justice Department of conspiring to act as a foreign agent for Egypt. Federal law prohibits Menendez, as a public official, from serving as a foreign agent.

The superseding indictment filed in federal district court in New York charges Menendez with one count of conspiracy for a public official to act as an agent of a foreign principal, the Egyptian government and its officials. Prosecutors said that Menendez “further promised to take and took a series of acts on behalf of Egypt, including on behalf of Egyptian military and intelligence officials, and conspired to do so with” Wael Hana, a New Jersey businessman from Egypt who runs a halal meat company, and his wife. The new indictment claims that Hana and Nadine Menendez “communicated requests and directives from Egyptian officials to Menendez.”

Menendez, his wife Nadine Menendez, Hana and two other New Jersey businessmen were charged last month for allegedly engaging in a bribery scheme. Prosecutors say that all parties were involved in the senator accepting lavish bribes in exchange for official acts. In the initial indictment, Menendez and his wife were charged with three counts — he now faces a total of four counts. The senator pleaded not guilty to all charges during his arraignment on the three counts and temporarily stepped down from his role leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the original charges were brought.

In the initial document, the Justice Department said that a search of Menendez’s New Jersey home in June 2022 yielded “the fruits of Menendez’s and Nadine Menendez’s corrupt bribery agreement.” Federal agents found more than $480,000 in cash stuffed in envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe, according to court filings. Nadine Menendez is accused of arranging meetings and dinners with Menendez and Egyptian officials in 2018, during which the senator allegedly promised to use his power to “facilitate” foreign military sales and financing in exchange for Hana putting his wife on his company’s payroll.

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed at least 25 Americans have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas, and described gruesome photos and videos he reviewed depicting victims of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israeli civilians.

Blinken, who traveled to Tel Aviv to meet with with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the United States will work with everyone in the region who wants to live in peace. Bliken said at a press conference in Israel: “It’s hard to find the right words. It’s beyond what anyone would ever want to imagine, much less, God forbid, experience. A baby, an infant, riddled with bullets. Soldiers beheaded. Young people burned alive. I could go on, but it’s simply depravity in the worst imaginable way.”

Standing at a podium next to Netanyahu, Blinken said: “Tragically, the number of innocent lives claimed by Hamas’s heinous attacks continues to rise. We joined families in Israel, in the United States, around the world mourning their immeasurable loss.”  He added that the United States will “always be there” for the nation as they deal with the ramifications of the attack by Hamas terrorists: “People of Israel have long and rightly prided themselves on their self-reliance, on their ability to defend themselves, even when the odds are stacked against them. The message that I bring to Israel is this: You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself. But as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there by your side.”

Blinken and Netanyahu spoke to alleged war crimes Hamas has committed during its attack on Israel, including the burning of bodies and killing of families after breaking into their homes. Netanyahu said: “Hamas has shown itself to be an enemy of civilization. President Biden was correct in calling this sheer evil. Hamas is ISIS and just as ISIS was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed. Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated. They should be spat out from the community of nations. No leader should meet them. No country should harbor them.”

Blinken went on to say that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people and what they want for their future, adding: “Hamas has only one agenda — to destroy Israel and murder Jews. No country can or would tolerate the slaughter of its citizens.” Blinken said Israel has the right to defend itself to make sure such an attack never happens again, but stressed that every precaution must be made to protect “every innocent life.”

Senior Palestinian Authority officials announced that Blinken is also scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday. CNN reported that Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to Jordan and Qatar, after he leaves Israel.

Blinken in Israel: At least 25 Americans killed in ‘heinous’ Hamas attacks

Editorial credit: lev radin / Shutterstock.com

On Wednesday, Republicans nominated Rep. Steve Scalise to be the next House Speaker after the historic ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the position.

In a narrow margin, House Republicans pushed aside Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the firebrand Judiciary Committee chairman, after private balloting at the Capitol. Instead, they voted in favor of Scalise, the current majority leader. The Louisiana congressman is currently battling blood cancer; and is seen as a hero after surviving a shooting on lawmakers at a congressional baseball game practice in 2017. Scalise said: “We have a lot of work to do … We need to make sure we’re sending a message to people all throughout the world, that the House is open to doing the people’s business.”

Republicans will now attempt to quickly unite their deeply divided majority and elect the conservative in a public floor vote. A floor vote of the whole House was expected, but with tension still running high among Republicans after McCarthy’s stunning removal last week, the House broke indefinitely, with next steps uncertain. It is also uncertain whether lawmakers who supported Jordan, the hard-liner backed by Donald Trump, will throw their support behind Scalise. Democrats are set to oppose the Republican nominee, and plan to nominate their leader, New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.

Jordan said little after the vote, only that the GOP majority “is divided,” but gave Scalise a nominating speech on the floor in a show of support Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a centrist leader, said, “We do need to get a speaker in place so we can govern. What we should have heard today after the vote count was, ‘I will heartily support Steve. Let’s get behind him.’ We did not hear that.”

In a floor vote, Scalise would need to amass votes from almost all Republicans to overcome opposition from the Democrats. The majority needed would be 218 votes, but there are currently two vacant seats, dropping the threshold to 217.

Currently, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., who was named as the speaker pro-tempore, is effectively in charge. However, he has shown little interest in extending his role as interim leader.

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Authorities announced Wednesday that former NFL player Sergio Brown was arrested in San Diego and faces first-degree murder charges in connection with the September death of his mother. According to a news release from the police department, San Diego Police Department and other local and federal agencies took Brown into custody Tuesday when he was entering the United States from Mexico. Brown, 35, was booked at about 4 p.m. local time Tuesday and is being held without bail. He is awaiting extradition to Illinois to face first-degree murder charges.

The news comes three-and-a-half weeks after family members reported Brown and his mother Myrtle Brown missing on Sept. 16. They were unable to locate Brown and a had a warrant issued for his arrest. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said that Myrtle’s death is being investigated as a homicide, and that she died as a result of “multiple injuries due to assault.”

Disturbing social media videos from Brown began to surface days after his mother’s death. A video appearing to be Brown was posted on an Instagram account, and while Brown didn’t refer to his mother’s death directly in the video, he claimed that the FBI paid him an “unwarranted” visit on “Bob Marley’s death day.” He also claimed the Maywood Police Department “kidnapped” him on two occasions. In the since-deleted video, he also said he thought Myrtle was “on vacation,” and that “it had to be the FBI or Maywood PD,” without explicitly stating what “it” referred to. Two days later, he appeared in another video on the same Instagram account, singing a Drake song and making references to dying.

Brown played in the NFL for six seasons, signing with the New England Patriots in 2010 and retiring following the 2016 season, during which he played for the Bills.

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