Bob Menendez won't attend Israel briefing amid allegations of being a foreign agent

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez will not attend a classified briefing for U.S. Senators on Wednesday following his indictment on charges of being an Egyptian foreign agent.

"I made my own decision not to attend. After 30 years of doing foreign policy and [being] intimately involved with our relationship with Israel, there’s nothing I’m going to hear in a classified hearing that is going to alter my view of what needs to be done," he told the Washington Times on Tuesday.

He further asserted that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had not asked that he skip the meeting.

Israel is currently embroiled in ongoing hostilities with the Gaza-based terror group Hamas. The Gaza Strip is a coastal territory bordering both Israel and Egypt and Cairo is likely to play a role in resolving the conflict.

Menendez in late September pleaded not guilty to federal fraud, bribery, and extortion charges after authorities discovered gold bars and large sums of cash at his home. He has denied wrongdoing and resisted calls to resign.

Faced with the indictment, however, he did step down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, pursuant to Democratic conference rules. Complicating matters for the senator was an October superseding indictment that charge him with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent, specifically for Egypt.

Egypt, for its part, has historically been an adversary of Israel, though the two nations have not engaged in full-scale war since 1973. The country is currently governed by President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi, who was slated to meet with President Joe Biden and other middle eastern leaders to discuss the conflict in Jordan on Wednesday, before the Jordanians called off the event.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.