--- title: Menendez Indictment Sparks Calls for Aid to Egypt to Be Cut description: Members of Congress called for Egypt to face consequences after allegedly bribing a U.S. Senator. canonical: https://time.com/6318109/menendez-indictment-sparks-calls-for-aid-to-egypt-to-be-suspended/ author: Mathias Hammer article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-09-27T23:03:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:26:57.677Z article:section: Politics og:title: Menendez Indictment Sparks Calls for Aid to Egypt to Be Cut og:description: Members of Congress call for Egypt to face consequences for allegedly bribing Sen. Bob Menendez. og:url: https://time.com/6318109/menendez-indictment-sparks-calls-for-aid-to-egypt-to-be-suspended/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4db4ac219f7a830/698a40cb86f68e33d46f2ccf/Menendez-faces-allegations-of-bribery.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Recently Indicted New Jersey Sen. Menendez Delivers Statement To The Media In NJ og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Menendez Indictment Sparks Calls for Aid to Egypt to Be Cut twitter:description: Members of Congress call for Egypt to face consequences for allegedly bribing Sen. Bob Menendez. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4db4ac219f7a830/698a40cb86f68e33d46f2ccf/Menendez-faces-allegations-of-bribery.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Menendez Indictment Sparks Calls for Aid to Egypt to Be Suspended > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=33de01b2-f78b-44bb-a207-e510e471c79d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and His Wife Indicted on Bribery Charges [Watch (HLS stream): New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and His Wife Indicted on Bribery Charges](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AE6P4hL3.m3u8) (4:06)  _Published 2023-09-22. U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife have been indicted on charges of bribery._ by [Mathias Hammer](https://time.com/author/mathias-hammer/) ## Mathias Hammer Sep 27, 2023 11:03 PM UTC U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife have been indicted on charges of bribery. by [Mathias Hammer](https://time.com/author/mathias-hammer/) ## Mathias Hammer Sep 27, 2023 11:03 PM UTC Dozens of gold bars. Wads of cash. A black Mercedes-Benz convertible. These are just some of the bribes the Department of Justice alleges that Senator Bob Menendez received while illicitly aiding the Egyptian government of President Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi. Not surprisingly, the accusations are straining the relationship between the U.S. and Egypt, as Congress considers whether to hold the country accountable for purportedly bribing one of their own through various intermediaries. After the news of Menendez’s indictment broke, prominent members of Congress called for a recently greenlit tranche of $235 million in military aid to Cairo to be put on ice. The funding was approved by the Biden administration via a national security waiver in spite of Congressional concerns about Egyptian human rights abuses.“I would hope that our committee would consider using any ability it has to put a pause on those dollars, pending an inquiry into what Egypt was doing,” Senator Chris Murphy, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told [reporters](https://www.reuters.com/world/menendez-indictment-prompts-calls-us-congress-egypt-aid-rethink-2023-09-26/) on Tuesday. But despite the outrage on the Hill, Middle East experts doubt that the allegations will lead to a lasting shift in the close relationship between Egypt and the U.S. that has lasted for over 40 years. Egypt is the third-largest recipient of American military aid after Israel and Ukraine, receiving about $1.3 billion annually. “Egypt is in the dog house already with Congress on human rights and dalliances with Russia. The Menendez affair surely won’t help their image here,” says Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “But the administration will likely continue to do business as usual, which is to protect most of the military assistance and the bilateral relationship.” The loudest calls for Egypt to face consequences are coming from the human rights community. “This money is tainted,” says Seth Binder, an official at the Project on Middle East Democracy in Washington. His organization is among the groups pressing lawmakers to withhold military aid to Egypt in light of the allegations of Egyptian inference in U.S. policymaking. “This is an Egyptian government that is meddling in U.S. politics and foreign policy in an illegal way.” Binder says that Congress should look at whether to make changes to the federal budget for 2024 in light of the allegations and Egypt’s human rights violations. “They could consider topline reductions, removing the national security waiver on the portion that's conditioned on human rights or increasing the portion that's conditioned on human rights.” As ranking member and then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since 2021, Senator Menendez has been in a position to influence aid, weapons and diplomatic assistance to Egypt for years. According to the indictment, Menendez allegedly ghost wrote a letter for an Egyptian official to convince U.S. senators to approve $300 million in assistance to Egypt. He also reportedly passed on sensitive nonpublic information about the number and nationality of U.S. embassy personnel in Egypt, which could have been used for intelligence purposes. The indictment alleges that he repeatedly intervened in favor of Egypt on human rights issues, foreign military sales and Egypt’s dispute with Ethiopia about the Nile River’s waters. On Sept. 27, Menendez pleaded not guilty to the charges. “If you look at my actions related to Egypt during the period described in this indictment, and throughout my whole career, my record is clear and consistent in holding Egypt accountable for its unjust detention of American citizens and others, its human rights abuses, its deepening relationship with Russia, and efforts that have eroded the independence of the nation’s judiciary,” Menendez said at a press conference on Sept. 25. The backlash against Menendez and Egypt has come from both sides of the aisle. “The Biden administration should revisit its military assistance determination made earlier this month and withhold much more of that funding,” says Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia and “we will be having those conversations as we process the indictment and other information in the days and weeks ahead.” GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement that Congress should “immediately open a formal congressional investigation into Senator Menendez’s questionable conduct and his purported interactions with foreign agents from Egypt in an alleged quid pro quo scheme.” Some [Republicans](https://www.semafor.com/article/09/26/2023/democrats-say-its-time-for-menendez-to-go-republicans-say-not-so-fast) including Rep. George Santos, who is himself facing charges, offered Menendez rhetorical support, defending the politician’s right to continue to serve as long as he has not been found guilty. For all the outrage, however, the administration may be reluctant to come down on Egypt too hard, experts say. “I don't imagine a sharp break at all. I just imagine a much scratchier relationship, which is what the Egyptians were trying to head off,” says Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center For Strategic and International Studies. “The Biden administration doesn't want an adversarial relationship with Egypt. But it does want to send a message of displeasure and it does want to change Egypt’s behavior. I think things like meetings between the Presidents, which were never easy, are going to get much harder.” The State Department declined to comment on the backlash against Egypt, citing the ongoing legal case against Menendez. ## Transcript Grandma dancing. My office is obtained, a three-count, indictment, charging, Senator Robert Menendez, his wife Nadine, Menendez in three New Jersey business men while Hannah Jose Uribe in Fred Davies for bribery offenses. the investigation that led to these charges have been run out of the southern district of New York, The indictment alleges that between 2018 and 2022, Senator Menendez the senior US senator from New Jersey, and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife Nadine Menendez engaged in a corrupt relationship with Hannah Uribe and Davies. The indictment alleges that through that relationship, the senator and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for Senator Menendez, using his power and influence to protect and to enrich those businessman. And to benefit the government of Egypt, the indictment alleges that Hannah Uribe and Davies provided bribes in the form of Cash Gold home mortgage payments. A low show or no show job for Nadine, Menendez a Mercedes-Benz and other things of value to the senator, and his wife. First denied me to Legends at Senator Menendez, use his power and influence, including his leadership role on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to benefit the government of Egypt in various ways. Among other actions, Senator Menendez allegedly provided sensitive non-public US. Government information to Egyptian officials and otherwise took steps to secretly a the government of Egypt. We also alleged that Senator Menendez improperly pressure, a senior official at the US Department of Agriculture to protect a lucrative Monopoly, that the government of Egypt, that awarded to Hannah a lucrative Monopoly that Hannah than used to fund certain bribe payments. Second indictment alleges. That Senator Menendez use his power and influence to try to disrupt a criminal investigation and prosecution undertaken by the New Jersey. Attorney general's office related to an associate and a relative of your eBay. Third, the indictment alleges that Senator Menendez use his power and influence to try to disrupt the federal prosecution of debuts in the district of New Jersey in two ways. First by seeking to install, the United States Attorney, who he thought could be influence with respect to Davies and second by trying to influence at office to act favorably. In Davies case, And it's realized in the indictment, the senator agreed to do these things. And use his power in this way, because Hannah was paying bribes because Uribe was paying bribes. And because Davies was paying bribes. Fortunately, the public official of the Senators not to influence, did not been to the pressure, that's a good thing. As part of this investigation special agent with the FBI executed search, warrants on the residence, and safe deposit box of Senator Menendez and Nadine, Menendez in New Jersey. When they got there, he discovered approximately $500,000 of cash, stuffed into envelopes and closets. Some of the cash was stopped in the Senators jacket pockets and some of the cash, some of the envelopes of cash contain Davies fingerprints, the baby's DNA. Fastenal agent also discovered a lot of gold goal that was provided by Davies and Hannah. And the FBI of course, found the Mercedes-Benz that your eBay. I provided them first, my office remains firmly, committed to rooting out public corruption without fear or favour and without any regard to partisan politics. That's in our DNA. Always has been always will be. Second this investigation is very much ongoing. 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