US demands Menendez be stripped of access to classified material American media vs pro-Armenian senator

American media reveals more and more dark spots in the biography and activities of the pro-Armenian lawmaker New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez.

A top Democrat committee accepted thousands of dollars from Menendez's PAC (Political Action Committee) on the same day federal investigators revealed his bribery charges to the public, filings reviewed by Fox News Digital show.

On the morning of September 22, federal investigators unsealed the charges against Menendez, who chaired the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife, Nadine Menendez. The charges included accusations that he benefited from the Egyptian government and engaged in a corrupt scheme alongside Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer; Wael Hana, who runs a halal meat certification business in the state; and businessman Jose Uribe.

That same day, Menendez's New Millennium PAC wired a $15,000 contribution to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's (DSCC) recount account, filings show. The DSCC is the primary group that works to elect and sustain Democrats in Congress's upper chamber.

The committee previously received $30,000 from Menendez in recent years but has remained mum on those contributions.

The indictment led to a flurry of Democrats calling for Menendez's resignation from the Senate, including DSCC Chair Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan. Peters, however, did not say how he would approach a Menendez run next year, Politico reported.

t also led to other politicians announcing they would part ways with the money Menendez sent to their committees, including Pennsylvania Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman and Montana Sen. Jon Tester. Some announced they would return the donations, while others said they would give it to charity.

Three Democrats — Fetterman, Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester and New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman — sent contribution refunds to Menendez's PAC in late September, a search of Federal Election Commission filings shows.

Meanwhile, according to CNN, Menendez attended a classified briefing on Ukraine Wednesday morning, raising concerns among some of his colleagues who believe that he should no longer be a senator or have security credentials.

The New Jersey Democrat grew defensive when approached by CNN on why he attended this briefing amid concerns about his continued service in the chamber and after he previously did not attend an Israel briefing, following a conversation he had with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

He denied that Schumer barred him from the previous briefing, and insisted that he had a right to get the classified information as he pushed back on the accusations of aiding the government of Egypt.

“First of all, you’re wrong about that. He didn’t say ‘You can’t go’ and he didn’t let me,” he said.

Asked why he attended this briefing, he told CNN’s Manu Raju, “because getting enough data on Ukraine is something that’s worthy as we consider the supplemental.”

He added: “You know, Manu, I know you’ve got to make news. Bottom line is, I’m a United States senator, I have my security credentials, and an accusation is just that. It’s not proof of anything.”

Menendez then entered an elevator and did not answer further questions about his slumping poll numbers in New Jersey.

Menendez pleaded not guilty in federal court late last month to a charge alleging he conspired to act as a foreign agent of Egypt. The Democratic senator, his wife Nadine Arslanian Menendez and three other co-defendants were indicted in September on corruption-related offenses and are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the senator’s influence.

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, who also attended the briefing, said that the conference will have “an ongoing conversation” about Menendez’s access to classified material.

“I think we’ve taken the right step to have Sen. Menendez step down as chairman of the Committee. Obviously, a lot of us think the right thing is for him to resign,” noted Murphy. “I think we’ll have an ongoing conversation about access to classified information. That’s an important thing for us to talk about.”