Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty on all counts Tuesday in his federal corruption trial.
Federal prosecutors in New York have alleged that the New Jersey Democrat accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bullion, mortgage payments and more in exchange for the senator’s political influence. Three New Jersey businessmen have also been indicted, as well as the governments of Egypt and Qatar, were the alleged recipients. Two of these co-defendants, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were also found guilty on all counts they faced.
The jury deliberated for approximately 13 hours over three days.
Menendez has pleaded not guilty to 16 federal charges, including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction. He said he plans to appeal his conviction and is “deeply disappointed” by the jury’s decision.
“I have never violated my oath,” he said in court Tuesday. “I have never been anything other than a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.”
He added that the jury’s decision “would put every member of the United States Senate at risk for what they consider to be a foreign agent.”
Menendez did not respond to questions about his possible resignation.
Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called for his resignation immediately after the verdict.
“In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” he said.
Menendez’s counterpart in New Jersey, Sen. Cory Booker, and state Gov. Phil Murphy have both called for his immediate resignation. If the senator refuses to leave his post, Murphy said he would ask the U.S. Senate to expel him.
Menendez will be sentenced on October 29 and faces decades in prison.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, whose office prosecuted the case, said after the verdict that “it has always been about shocking levels of corruption.”
“Hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including gold, cash, and a Mercedes-Benz. This wasn’t politics as usual, this was politics for profit,” Williams said in a statement. “With Senator Menendez convicted, his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end. Corruption has a cost: it erodes public trust and undermines the rule of law. That’s why we are so determined to fight it, regardless of political party.”
Prosecutors said Menendez, 70, “put his power up for sale” in exchange for gold, envelopes stuffed with cash, checks made out to his wife for undone work and a Mercedes-Benz convertible. The FBI found gold bars and more than $400,000 in cash hidden in places like jackets and shoes throughout his home, prosecutors said.
“It wasn’t enough for him to be one of the most powerful people in Washington,” federal prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said at his trial. closing argument July 8. “Robert Menendez wanted all this power and he also wanted to use it to accumulate wealth for himself and his wife.”
The defense, for its part, argued that all of the acts mentioned in the indictment fell within the scope of Menendez’s position and that prosecutors had failed to prove that he accepted bribes.
MORE: Sen. Bob Menendez corruption case: What you need to know before trial begins
During his closing argumentDefense attorney Adam Fee derided the government’s arguments as “cherry-picked nonsense” and accused prosecutors of “tampering” with the facts.
“The only honest verdict I submit here is to acquit him on every count,” Fee told the jury on July 9. “His actions were legal, normal and good for the country.”
Menendez has refused to testify in his own defense. Leaving court after the defense closed its case on July 3, he told reporters: “In my view, the government has failed to prove all aspects of its case.”
He said he expected his lawyers to present a “compelling and powerful summary” and for the jury to find him not guilty.
Prosecutors told the jury that Menendez promised to use his power to help Egypt. The indictment said the deal was brokered by Hana, a New Jersey businessman and friend of Menendez’s wife, Nadine, who prosecutors said received help from the senator to maintain a monopoly on halal meat.
Menendez was also accused of receiving a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for his help disrupting a case being led by the New Jersey attorney general’s office.
According to prosecutors, in the spring of 2019, another New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, who pleaded guilty in the case, gave Nadine $15,000 in cash that she used as a down payment on the car. She texted Menendez: “Congratulations. We are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes,” prosecutors said. Uribe continued to make the monthly payments, prosecutors said.
MORE: Sen. Bob Menendez ‘put his power up for sale,’ prosecutor says in corruption trial
Prosecutors said the senator promised a third businessman, Daibes, that he would interfere in the federal prosecution of Daibes and help the Qatari government by supporting a Senate resolution praising the country.
Daibes’ fingerprints were found on envelopes of cash found at Menendez’s home, and serial numbers on the gold bars helped link them to Daibes and Hana, prosecutors said.
During two months of testimony, jurors heard his sister explain why Menendez was arrested with wads of cash stuffed in his embroidered congressional jacket: “It’s a Cuban thing,” Caridad Gonzalez said.
The defense also told jurors that Menendez and his wife, also charged in the case, led separate lives and that she had financial problems that she hid from her husband.
Daibes and Hana have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. Uribe pleaded guilty and testified against all three defendants at trial.
Menendez’s wife has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her and will be tried separately in August because of health concerns. She is battling grade 3 breast cancer, the senator said. revealed in mid-May at the start of the trial.
Menendez, who has served as a senator from New Jersey since 2006, is the first sitting member of Congress to be charged with conspiracy by a government official to act as a foreign agent.
In June, he filed a petition to run for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey as an independent candidate.
He has refused to resign, although he did resign as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the initial indictment in September 2023.
This is the second time the senator has been charged with corruption. An indictment dates back to 2015 ended in a mistrial in 2018 after a jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts.
Sen. Bob Menendez Found Guilty on All Counts, Including Acting as a Foreign Agent, in Federal Corruption Trial originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
