Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) will not attend a classified briefing on Israel this week amid accusations that he acted as an unregistered foreign agent of the Egyptian government.
“He’s not going to attend the briefing tomorrow,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters Tuesday, refusing to elaborate on whether it was his decision or the New Jersey Democrat’s.
“I’ve had private conversations, I don’t get involved in what happened in them, on this kind of thing,” Schumer said. “He’s not attending.”
Menendez, 69, was indicted earlier this month on charges of illegally acting as a foreign agent of Egypt after previously being indicted in September on corruption charges, related to his alleged pocketing of hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of gold bars and other bribes in exchange for his influence as a senator.
The embattled senator, who has faced calls to resign from several of his Senate Democratic colleagues, claims it was his decision not to attend Wednesday’s classified briefing.
“I made my own decision not to attend,” Menendez told reporters Tuesday, according to his spokesperson. “After 30 years of doing foreign policy and [being] intimately involved with our relationship with Israel, there’s nothing I’m going to hear in a classified hearing that is going to alter my view of what needs to be done.”
Menedez had earlier told Politico, before Schumer’s announcement, that he hadn’t made a decision on whether to attend the briefing.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who on Sept. 23 became the first Democratic senator to call for Menendez to step down, expressed concern about the possibility of the indicted New Jersey Democrat participating in the briefing concerning Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists.
“Would it be awkward to attend a classified briefing on Israel when you’ve been accused of being a foreign agent for, let’s say, a country like Egypt. Asking for a friend,” Fetterman tweeted.
The Pennsylvania Democrat, who last week called on the full Senate to vote on a resolution to expel Menendez, tweeted a sarcastic “Family Guy” GIF after Scumer’s announcement, with the caption, “What? Oh noooo.”
Menendez stepped aside from his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in September, hours after his indictment on bribery charges, but he continues to serve on the powerful panel.
Menendez, who has served in the Senate since 2006, has vehemently proclaimed his innocence, rebuffed calls to resign and has not ruled out running for reelection next year.
“I have been, throughout my life, loyal to only one country — the United States of America, the land my family chose to live in democracy and freedom,” Menedez said after the unregistered foreign agent charges were brought against him last week.
“Piling new charge upon new charge does not make the allegations true. The facts haven’t changed, only a new charge. It is an attempt to wear someone down and I will not succumb to this tactic. I again ask people who know me and my record to give me the chance to present my defense and show my innocence,” he added.