FBI probing whether Egyptian intelligence played a role in Menendez case
The counter-intelligence investigation is looking at whether Egypt's intelligence services tried to gain access to the senator through his wife, sources told NBC News.
The FBI is investigating whether Egypt's intelligence services might have been involved in the alleged bribery scheme described in the indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The counterintelligence investigation is in addition to the federal corruption case that accuses Menendez, D-N.J., of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, the sources said. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez helped oversee billions of dollars in U.S. aid to Egypt. He stepped down as chairman after he was indicted.
Investigators want to know whether Egyptian intelligence officials or their associates tried to gain access to Menendez through his wife, Nadine, the sources said.
According to a three-count indictment unsealed last week, Menendez accepted lavish bribes to wield his political position for the benefit the Egyptian government and to enrich a group of Egyptian American businessmen named as co-defendants.
The three New Jersey-based businessmen named as co-defendants, who are accused of providing bribes from “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in gold bars to a Mercedes-Benz convertible worth more than $60,000, are Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes.
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