Another Take: Gold, arms, Egypt – the downfall of a US senator
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 1 February 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every Saturday, we revisit a story from the archives. This originally aired on September 26, 2023. None of the dates, titles, or other references from that time have been changed.
A US federal court has indicted New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez and his wife Nadine on corruption-related charges. The couple have reportedly accepted gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for providing sensitive information about US foreign policy and other favors for Egyptian officials. It’s not the first time Menendez, who heads the Senate’s foreign relations committee, has been accused of corruption — but the detailed nature of the charges this time could be much more damning.
In this episode:
- Ali Harb (@Harbpeace), Al Jazeera English Journalist
Episode credits:
This episode was updated by Chloe K. Li and Sarí el-Khalili. The original production team was David Enders and Khaled Soltan, with our guest host Kevin Hirten.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.
Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
Connect with us:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Hi, I'm Saryl Khalili, Senior Producer with the Take, and I'm coming to you with another take, |
| 0:16.0 | where we resurface stories from the archives. |
| 0:20.0 | A corruption case involving a former U.S. senator has reached its conclusion in New York. |
| 0:26.6 | Bob Menendez has been sentenced to 11 years in prison. |
| 0:31.6 | Once a powerful political figure in the U.S., |
| 0:35.6 | Menendez was found guilty of trading influence with the Egyptian |
| 0:39.2 | government for cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes-Benzcar. This episode originally aired on September 26, |
| 0:48.7 | 2023 when the story first came to light. all dates and references are from that time. |
| 1:04.0 | Gold bars and stacks of cash hidden away in closets. |
| 1:07.7 | A fake job at a halal meat company. |
| 1:10.2 | A brand new luxury car, attempts to derail |
| 1:13.3 | federal investigations. These are just some of the stunning details outlined in a federal |
| 1:19.0 | indictment of one of the U.S.'s most influential senior senators, Robert Menendez, Democrat, |
| 1:25.1 | of the state of New Jersey. New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and his wife have been indicted on corruption-related charges. |
| 1:34.3 | Menendez is the powerful chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. |
| 1:38.3 | The indictment says agents discovered a Google search by Menendez asking, |
| 1:42.3 | how much is one kilo of gold worth? |
| 1:45.8 | The U.S. Justice Department says Menendez accepted kickbacks in exchange for information, |
| 1:52.0 | access, and policies that favored Egypt, one of the most important U.S. allies in the Middle East. |
| 1:59.3 | Menendez denies it all. |
| 2:01.2 | He struck a defiant tone so far. |
... |
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