US Senator Bob Menendez has pleaded not responsible to a brand new cost of conspiring to behave as an unregistered international agent for the Egyptian authorities.

The New Jersey Democrat – till just lately the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – is accused of taking actions from 2018 to 2022 on behalf of Egyptian army and intelligence officers.

Menendez entered the plea earlier than US District Judge Sidney Stein in Manhattan.

The 69-year-old stated in an announcement on Monday that “piling new charge upon new charge does not make the allegations true”.

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The senator and his spouse Nadine Menendez had beforehand been charged with accepting lots of of hundreds of {dollars} value of money and gold bars from three New Jersey businessmen in trade for utilizing his affect to learn Egypt’s authorities and intrude with legislation enforcement probes into the businessmen.

All defendants pleaded not responsible to these costs final month.

Nadine Menendez and one of many businessmen, Wael Hana, pleaded not responsible to the international agent cost on 18 October.

Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, people should register with the division in the event that they act as “an agent of a foreign principle”.

Prosecutors stated Hana organized conferences between the senator and Egyptian officers, who pressed him to log out on army assist.

In return, the businessman put Nadine Menendez on the payroll of an organization he managed, prosecutors stated.

The new indictment stated each Hana and Nadine Menendez communicated requests and directives from Egyptian officers to the senator.

Bob Menendez has resisted calls from fellow Democrats to resign.