Senator Bob Menendez found guilty in bribery scheme
‘I’m deeply disappointed’: Senator Menendez spoke outside court after his conviction
New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez has been found guilty on 16 counts related to a bribery scheme involving receiving gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz in exchange for assisting foreign governments.
A jury convicted Menendez of all charges after more than 12 hours of deliberation over three days. The trial lasted nine weeks.
Menendez, who once chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, now faces the possibility of decades in prison.
Democratic lawmakers have urged him to resign from Congress following his conviction.
“Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a statement.
Speaking to reporters after his conviction, Menendez insisted on his innocence.
“I never violated my public oath,” he said outside the New York City courthouse on Tuesday. “I have never been but a patriot of my country and for my country.”
His lawyer, Adam Fee, expressed being “surprised and disappointed” by the jury’s verdict and vowed to appeal “aggressively.”
Prosecutors described the case as showcasing “shocking levels of corruption.”
“This wasn’t politics as usual; this was politics for profit,” said Damian Williams, an attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“Now that the jury has convicted Bob Menendez, his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end,” Williams said.
Menendez pleaded not guilty during the trial. His lawyers contended that the gifts he received did not qualify as bribes, arguing that prosecutors had not proven he took any specific actions in return.
Menendez’s wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, also faces charges in the bribery case, but her trial was delayed for her breast cancer treatment. She has pleaded not guilty.
The defense attempted to shift blame to Mrs. Menendez, portraying her as a financially troubled individual seeking “cash and assets any way she could.”
Prosecutors, however, presented expert testimony, emails, and Menendez’s text messages as evidence that the senator accepted extravagant rewards from foreign governments.
The gifts reportedly included gold bars worth over $100,000. Some of these bars were shown to jurors as evidence during the trial.
Jurors also heard that FBI agents found more than $480,000 in cash inside Menendez’s home, some of which was hidden in envelopes and coats.
Two businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, are also on trial for allegedly seeking the senator’s assistance to illegally benefit the Egyptian government and secure millions from a Qatari investment fund.
A third businessman, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty and testified against Menendez during the trial.
In exchange for the bribes, prosecutors said Menendez helped secure millions of dollars in US aid for Egypt, where Hana was connected to government officials. Menendez was also accused of trying to influence criminal investigations involving Daibes and Uribe. Both businessmen were convicted alongside Menendez.
Menendez is running as an independent candidate to retain his seat in November’s election. Most New Jersey Democrats distanced themselves from him last year after the indictment revealed gold bars hidden in his home.
Andy Kim, a Democratic congressman from New Jersey, called the verdict “a sad and sombre day” for the state.
“I called on Senator Menendez to step down when these charges were first made public, and now that he has been found guilty, I believe the only course of action for him is to resign his seat immediately,” Kim said in a statement.
“The people of New Jersey deserve better,” he added.
Menendez has faced federal corruption charges before. In 2017, he was tried for allegedly doing political favors for a wealthy Florida eye doctor in exchange for luxury holidays and other lavish gifts. That case ended in a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, even though he was acquitted on some charges.