Report: Sen. Bob Menendez Held D.C. Meeting with Businessman at Focus of Federal Probe

Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez (NJ) held a meeting in his Washington, DC, office in 2018 with a New Jersey businessman who is at the center of a federal corruption probe into the senator, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Southern District of New York prosecutors are investigating Menendez as part of a corruption probe, which reportedly stems from facts similar to a 2015 U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) case against Menendez and Democrat donor Salomon Melgen for conspiracy and bribery.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

The meeting, which hasn’t been previously reported, came months before the businessman, Wael Hana, secured a contract with Egyptian officials for certifying halal meat exports. The contract is a key part of the probe examining whether Menendez, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, or his wife received gifts in exchange for political favors.

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That year, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and his military council decided they wanted one company to control all imports of halal meat, as part of a broader effort to increase the military’s control on the Egyptian economy, according to senior Egyptian officials. Hana, a U.S. citizen and Egyptian national, had limited experience with halal certification before winning the contract with Cairo.

Months later, in May 2019, Hana’s company became the sole certifier of halal meat exported from the U.S. to Egypt, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Nadine Arslanian, who married Menendez two years after the 2018 meeting, attended the meeting along with Egyptian diplomats and a New Jersey lawyer who is an associate of Hana, the outlet added.

Menendez told CNN he does not believe the investigation will amount to anything. 

“If anyone looks at my history on Egypt, they would know that by both denying aid to Egypt, denying arms sales to Egypt, criticizing its human-rights records, I am not in a position to be helpful to anyone as it relates to Egypt,” the New Jersey Democrat said.

A Hana spokeswoman said the company’s performance brought on the contract and denied receiving “any assistance whatsoever from Senator Menendez or any other U.S. public official.”

However, Menendez is no stranger to being investigated by federal authorities. Nearly a decade ago, Breitbart News’s Matthew Boyle, who then worked for The Daily Caller, broke a story that Menendez allegedly solicited underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.

The DOJ found evidence that “corroborated” the allegations against Menendez years later. 

“Presented with specific, corroborated allegations that defendants Menendez and Melgen had sex with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, the Government responsibly and dutifully investigated those serious allegations,” the DOJ wrote in a 2015 filing.

Menendez also faced federal corruption charges in 2017, but the jury could not reach a verdict on his case, resulting in a mistrial. 

Menendez has represented New Jersey in the U.S. Senate since his appointment to fill a vacancy in 2005. He will be up for reelection in 2024.

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.