A former aide to embattled US Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey testified at his bribery trial this week that he exhibited "unusual" behaviour towards Egypt during a time that he was allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for helping the country get military aid, according to a report by Politico.
Sarah Arkin worked as a senior aide to Menendez when he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and would attend meetings with foreign representatives, and eventually noticed that he was having meetings with Egyptians that she wasn't involved with.
She said that in 2019, he said he wanted to be less publicly critical of Egypt. This statement followed a letter she'd written for Menendez to sign, urging Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to respect human rights and to step down from office after his second term ended in 2022.
She also testified that Menendez told his staff to help arrange a senate trip to Egypt through an Egyptian intelligence officer based in Washington, a trip that would normally be arranged by the US State Department.
Arkin also testified that that in 2018 Menendez gave an invitation for two Egyptian men to visit his office. He hosted Egyptian Major General Khaled Shawky, the defence attaché in Washington and Wael (or Will) Hana, a New Jersey-based Egyptian businessman. In attendance at the meeting was Menendez's then-girlfriend, Nadine (née Arslanian, originally from Beirut), to whom he is now married. She is facing similar allegations of bribery.
Hana was later accused of being involved in a meat certifying scheme, using the proceeds to bribe Menendez and his wife. Last year, a search of the couple's home found hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold bars and cash.
According to the Politico report, Menendez's legal team appear to trying to show that Menendez was changing his strategy on Egypt and aiming for a quieter approach in his dealing with the country.
