(Washington, DC, September 11, 2025) – In response to the September 11, 2025 sentencing of Nadine Menendez, wife of convicted former Senator Robert Menendez, for accepting bribes from the Egyptian government in return for ensuring the provision of military aid from the U.S. government, DAWN issued the following statement:
"Senator Menendez and his wife deserve their prison sentences for betraying our nation to ensure continued weapons flow to Egypt's brutal dictatorship, but the main culprits here, President Sisi and his cronies, have still evaded accountability," said Sarah Leah Whitson. "Rather than punishing Egyptian officials for corrupting our democratically elected officials and undermining faith in our government, the Trump administration has rewarded them with billions more in weapons."
DAWN previously documented the role of individual Egyptian officials in the Menendez corruption scheme, urging the FBI to investigate other possible instances of bribery, including the thwarted investigation of a $10 million bribe from Egypt to then candidate Donald Trump in 2017.
"The Department of Justice and Congress should investigate all of the interactions between Egyptian officials and members of Congress, because where there's smoke, there's fire," said Raed Jarrar, DAWN's advocacy director. "There should be a total ban on any meetings with Egyptian officials and their lobbyists until they are held accountable for their crimes."
As previously reported, the Egyptian officials implicated in the corruption of Senator Menendez and his wife include:
— Mai Abdelmaguid, an Egyptian intelligence agent based out of the Egyptian embassy in Washington D.C., was introduced to Nadine Menendez shortly after her marriage to the Senator on October 3, 2020. Evidence produced by the DOJ shows that the two women frequently passed each other sensitive information for the benefit of the Egyptian government, including one text exchange in which Abdelmaguid conveyed a request for an introduction to Representative Gregory Meeks, and another in which Nadine Menendez passed on information that raised questions about whether Egyptian officials were involved in the murder of DAWN founder Jamal Khashoggi.
— General Ahmed Helmy, who is known as Egypt's top spy in Washington D.C., held at least four meetings with Senator Menendez to discuss the provision of FMF to Egypt. Helmy was also in regular contact with Senator Menendez via his intermediaries, including in one text exchange in which he declared that Senator Menendez would "sit very comfortably" were he to help unblock an expected shipment of military aid and another in which Nadine Menendez wrote to him: "Anytime you need it anything you have my number and we will make everything happen."
— Major General Khaled Ahmed Shawky Osman also held at least two meetings with Senator Menendez to discuss the provision of FMF to Egypt and engaged in multiple exchanges with Senator Menendez's intermediaries. In one exchange, Shawky referred to Senator Menendez as "Bob," a moniker that was not commonly used by individuals who interacted with the Senator.
— General Abbas Kamel, the head of Egyptian Intelligence Services, met with Senator Menendez and his wife at a hotel in Washington D.C. on June 21, 2021, the day before Kamel was scheduled to meet with Senators who had raised concerns about Egypt's human rights record.The couple briefed Kamel about what questions to expect during the meeting, and allegedly discussed how to respond to Senators who planned to ask the Kamel about reports that the Saudi plane carrying Khashoggi's assassins stopped in Cairo to pick up the drugs that were used in his murder.
