NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Bob Menendez on Wednesday asked a judge to dismiss a criminal indictment charging him with corruption and illegally acting as an agent of the Egyptian government.
Menendez, a Democrat representing New Jersey, in October pleaded not guilty to charges of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from New Jersey businessmen to impede law enforcement probes they faced, and to aiding Egyptian military and intelligence officials without registering as a foreign agent.
“The government’s accusations in this case — that he sold his office and even sold out his nation — are outrageously false, and indeed distort reality,” Menendez’s lawyers wrote in papers filed in Manhattan federal court.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, which brought the charges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Prosecutors are due to respond to Menendez’s motion by Feb. 5.
Last week, prosecutors brought an updated indictment accusing Menendez of helping a New Jersey businessman seek investment from a Qatari company with ties to the Middle Eastern country’s government.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel in New YorkEditing by Chris Reese and Nick Macfie)
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