Authorities allege Sen. Bob Menendez, right, used his influence to help friend Wael Hana obtain an exclusive deal to export halal-certified meat to Egypt. (Courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York)
A former U.S. Department of Agriculture official said he’ll never forget the words he heard from Sen. Bob Menendez in May 2019.
At the time, federal officials were probing why Egypt was cutting ties with a group of U.S. companies tasked with certifying that halal meat exported to Egypt was prepared according to Islamic law and choosing to work with just one company instead, IS EG Halal.
Ted McKinney, the agriculture official, testified during Menendez’s corruption trial Friday that Menendez was curt during their brief phone conversation and told him, “Stop interfering with my constituents.”
Prosecutor Eli Mark asked McKinney what message he believed Menendez was sending to him.
“Stop. Stop interfering,” said McKinney.
McKinney’s two-and-a-half-hour testimony capped off the third week of Menendez’s corruption trial, and it was the first time jurors heard from a witness who offered direct testimony about the kind of arm-twisting prosecutors say Menendez performed to aid his friends.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine, are accused of accepting gold bars, gym equipment, a luxury car, and more in exchange for the senator, a Democrat, using his political power to intervene in military aid, international negotiations, criminal prosecutions, and more.
Their co-defendants are real estate developer Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, head of IS EG Halal. They all maintain their innocence. A fifth defendant, Jose Uribe, has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify for the prosecution.
Prosecutors allege Hana bribed Menendez so Hana could secure the export deal with Egypt. To get Egypt on board, authorities allege, Menendez agreed to release millions in military aid to Egypt and reveal sensitive information about staffing at the American embassy in Cairo.
McKinney explained in detail how he learned that Egypt decided to work with Hana’s company exclusively.
About a month prior to the call from Menendez, he received an email explaining that Egypt would use IS EG Halal beginning May 1, 2019, severing relationships with several American-based companies.
McKinney said it was unusual for certifiers to be dropped so quickly, and he was concerned that leaving just one halal certifier would lead to delays and complications, especially since the company had not certified halal meat previously.
Within days of this “very, very unusual” news, McKinney alerted federal officials and emailed the Egyptian ambassador asking for a way to stop this “rapid and sudden change,” stressing that a monopoly would raise prices for Egyptian consumers and potentially cause America to lose its hold on the beef liver market in Egypt.
He said he never heard back from Egyptian officials.
He was ghosted again eight days later, he said, when he sent a letter to his counterpart in Egypt, stressing that he was “deeply concerned” about one company winning the right to export halal beef.
“We used these words because the issue was getting serious,” McKinney said.
Interactions between senators and McKinney were typically limited to lawmakers wanting something in their district to be on federal officials’ radar, McKinney said. But in late May 2019, McKinney’s chief of staff told him to expect a call from Menendez in about an hour, he said.
On that short call, Menendez told McKinney at least twice to “stop interfering with my constituents,” McKinney testified. McKinney noted the senator didn’t say please and interrupted him while McKinney tried to explain why he wanted to urge Egypt to reinstate more certifiers.
“I recall he said something along the lines of, ‘Let’s not bother with that,’” McKinney said.
He noted he was aware Menendez was chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Menendez stepped down as chair after his September indictment.)
“This was an influential person and an influential call,” McKinney testified.
McKinney did stop interfering, he said, but only once he heard about the FBI investigation into Menendez.
“I put the word out … to please stand down,” he said. “It was in the hands of the FBI at this point.”
Menendez attorney Adam Fee, during his cross-examination of McKinney, offered a different and more banal explanation for why Egypt was looking to work with a different halal certifier.
Fee noted that Egyptian officials had expressed concerns that non-halal meat was mixed with halal meat before it was shipped from America to other countries.
“Was the Egyptian government able to reject a halal certifier as inadequate?” Fee asked.
“They have that right,” McKinney said.
McKinney will take the stand again Monday when he will face more questioning from Fee and the lawyers for Daibes and Hana.
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