Sen. Bob Menendez’s Egypt trip planning got ‘weird,’ Senate staffer recalls at bribery trial

By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A Senate staffer has testified at a bribery trial that planning for Sen. Bob Menendez’s 2021 trip to Egypt and Qatar got “weird” after the Democrat directed that Egypt be involved in the process. A senior staffer with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee testified Monday as a government witness at a trial over bribes of gold and cash allegedly paid to the senator in return for benefits he supposedly delivered to three New Jersey businessmen. Sarah Arkin described the involvement of Egypt in the planning as unusual. The senator and two of the businessmen have pleaded not guilty. A third testified earlier at the trial which is in its seventh week.