Bob Menendez pleads not guilty to charges of acting as an agent of Egypt

The Democratic senator stepped down from the foreign relations committee chair after accusations of being a foreign agent

Bob Menendez returned to court in New York on Monday and entered a not guilty plea to a charge alleging that the US senator conspired to act as an agent of the Egyptian government when he chaired the Senate foreign relations committee.

Menendez, 69, spoke up to say not guilty" when offered the chance to make his plea during his first appearance before Judge Sidney Stein at federal court in lower Manhattan. Stein is expected to preside over a trial tentatively scheduled for May.