Witness at Sen. Bob Menendez's bribery trial says meat

NEW YORK (AP) — A witness at Sen. Bob Menendez’s bribery trial testified Friday that the cost of certifying that meat sent to Egypt followed Islamic dietary requirements skyrocketed after a single U.S. company was given a monopoly in a cozy deal prosecutors say the Democrat arranged in return for bribes.

James Bret Tate, a U.S. diplomat who was based in Cairo for several years and promoted U.S. agricultural interests, told a Manhattan federal court jury how Halal meat certification ended up in the hands of a single company run by Menendez’s codefendant, Wael “Will” Hana, rather than several companies that had done it in the past.

Prosecutors say Menendez, 70, of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, was behind the creation of the monopoly as a partial payback for bribes he received from Hana, a friend of Menendez’s wife. Among charges lodged against Menendez were bribery, extortion, fraud and obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. He and Hana have pleaded not guilty to all charges, along with a third businessman and codefendant, real estate developer Fred Daibes.

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