Accusations that he acted as a foreign agent while serving in Congress are precluded by the U.S. Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause, lawyers for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez said Wednesday when they filed a motion to dismiss a second superseding indictment against him.

The senior senator from New Jersey claimed in his motion to dismiss the indictment that it  unlawfully calls into question how Menendez exercised his prerogatives in working with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and wrongly cast doubt on how he advised the president on federal nominations in the state.