Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) on Wednesday renewed his call for Senate colleagues to expel embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) after federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment newly alleging that Menendez accepted race car tickets and other gifts in exchange for helping Qatar.
“Now, accused of selling his honor and our nation for a $24,000 watch. Accused as a foreign agent for *two* nations. How much more before we finally expel @SenatorMenendez,” Fetterman posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Federal prosecutors allege that Menendez’s co-defendant, New Jersey developer Fred Daibes, offered the senator his pick of luxury watches worth as much as $23,990 while he was seeking an investment from an investment company with ties to the government of Qatar.
Prosecutors say Daibes later sent Menendez an update on a proposed Senate resolution supportive of Qatar, and Menendez then sent a message to the Qatari investor who would be meeting with Daibes urging for a “favorable and mutually beneficial agreement” with his “friend.”
After the Qatari company entered into a joint venture with a company controlled by Daibes, it “caused four tickets for the Formula One Grand Prix race” in Miami to be provided to a relative of Menendez, prosecutors say.
Adam Fee, a lawyer for Menendez, dismissed the allegations as “a string of baseless assumptions and bizarre conjectures based on routine, lawful contacts between a Senator and his constituents.”
Federal prosecutors accused Menendez in a superseding indictment filed in October of conspiring to act as a foreign agent on behalf of Egypt.
At that time, Fetterman called on the Senate to vote on a resolution to expel Menendez.
“Sen. Menendez should not be a U.S. Senator. He should have been gone long ago. It is time for every one of my colleagues in the Senate to join me in expelling Senator Menendez,” he said in a statement.
Despite the charges, Menendez has continued to attend classified national security briefings.
Senate Democrats have privately discussed among themselves whether the New Jersey senator should be barred from attending such briefings in the future.
Menendez has consistently maintained his innocence and insisted the allegations are “not proof” of criminal wrongdoing.