A $2B chopper deal with Egypt led to money for Menendez — from Boeing: report
24 October 2023
After pleading not guilty to bribery and corruption charges last month, United States Senator Bob Menendez's (D-NJ) pleaded not guilty Monday after he was accused of conspiring to serve as an agent of the Egyptian government during his stint as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Furthermore, The Daily Beast senior researcher William Bredderman exclusively reports that campaign finance documents show the senator "cashed in on pro-Egypt actions in more ways than one."
In a court document shared with the public via X (formerly Twitter) earlier this month, prosecutors for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) allege, "At all times relevant to this Indictment, MENENDEZ held a leadership position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (the “SFRC”), first as the Ranking Member and then the Chairman, and therefore possessed influence over, among other things, the Executive Branch's decisions to provide foreign military sales, foreign military financing, and other aid or support to or for the benefit of the Government of Egypt."
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Now, Bredderman reports:
In this particular engagement, the feds allege Menendez, his associates, and his Egyptian contact discussed the opposition the [ex-President Donald] Trump administration's $1 billion sale of Apache military helicopters to the Middle East nation faced from some members of Congress, including then-Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). At the core of their objections was the authoritarian regime's use of these same model choppers four years earlier to attack a tour group it mistook for militants, an assault that left several dead and one American citizen injured.
Furthermore, Apache is manufactured by Boeing, which has financially contributed to Menendez's New Millennium political action committee (PAC), according to Bredderman.
"Lobbying records for Boeing from 2019 do not mention Menendez, his committee, Egypt, or the Apache by name," Bredderman notes, "However, the documents do reflect that the company expended tens of thousands of dollars that year advocating that both houses of Congress approve appropriations 'for a variety of programs and activities of The Boeing Company,' including for 'rotorcraft.'"
Bredderman adds, Boeing donated $5,000 in 2019 from its political action committee to the New Millennium PAC, before "once again" giving "New Millennium the maximum allowed $5,000 in early August 2020, a little more than a month after the State Department moved to award Egypt $2.3 billion in Apache upgrades, and once again in late December 2021, shortly before contracts for the improvements began to go out."
The Daily Beast's full report is available at this link (subscription required).