The Hill is reporting: “A federal indictment against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) unsealed Friday could threaten his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“The government alleges that Menendez ‘provided sensitive U.S. government information and took other steps that secretly aided the government of Egypt,’ the indictment reads. …

“At other points in the indictment, Menendez is described as skirting his committee, at one point asking the State Department for a breakdown of staffing at the U.S. Embassy in Egypt, information ‘deemed highly sensitive because it could pose significant operational security concerns if disclosed to a foreign government or if made public.’ …

“Menendez, without alerting the State Department or any of his congressional staff, passed it along to his then-girlfriend, who passed it along to a friend also charged in the indictment, who passed it along to an Egyptian government official. …”

STEPHEN ZUNES, zunes@usfca.edu

Professor of politics at the University of San Francisco, Zunes wrote the piece “One of the Democrats’ Biggest Hawks Is Now Senate Foreign Relations Chair,” which states: “Sen. Robert Menendez has opposed the Iran nuclear agreement and attacked Republicans from the right on foreign policy.”

He said today: “Menendez’s indictment for passing on sensitive government information to strengthen the Sisi regime underscores the often-overlooked bipartisan support for Egypt’s brutal dictatorship — one of the most repressive in the world. Despite holding over 60,000 political prisoners, a muzzled press, extrajudicial killings, torture on an administrative basis, and an absence of free elections, the Biden administration and key senators like Menendez have insisted the American taxpayer spend over $1 billion annually propping up Sisi’s autocratic rule, making Egypt the third highest recipient of U.S. military aid.”