Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty on all charges in his federal corruption trial on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors in New York alleged that the New Jersey Democrat accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars and mortgage payments in exchange for political influence as a senator. Three New Jersey businessmen indicted alongside the Egyptian and Qatari governments were alleged to have been recipients of the bribes. Two of those co-defendants, Wael Hana and Fred Dibes, were also convicted of all charges against them.
The jury deliberated for about 13 hours over three days.
“I’ve never been a foreign agent,” Menendez said.
Menendez has pleaded not guilty to 16 federal charges, including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction of justice. He plans to appeal his conviction and said he was “deeply disappointed” with the jury’s verdict.
“I have never broken my oath,” he said outside the court on Tuesday. “I am nothing but a lover and servant of my country. I have never been a foreign agent.”
He added that the jury’s decision “puts at risk every member of the United States Senate’s idea of what a foreign agent looks like.”
Menendez did not respond to questions about whether he would resign.
He will be sentenced on October 29th and faces decades in prison.
Calls for resignation
Menendez would not be required to resign if convicted, but he could be ousted.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York), the Republican leader, called for his resignation immediately after the verdict.
“In light of this guilty verdict, Sen. Menendez must do the right thing for his constituents, the Senate and our country and resign,” he said.
Menendez’s New Jersey colleague, Sen. Cory Booker, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy have also joined in calling for Menendez to resign immediately, with Governor Murphy saying he will ask the US Senate to expel him if he refuses to step down.
The Senate Ethics Committee said it would “expeditiously” complete an investigation into Menendez’s conduct, which it began when allegations against him first emerged.
The committee said it would consider “all disciplinary measures available under its procedural rules,” including expulsion or reprimand.
He would not be required to resign if convicted, but he could be expelled.
‘Shocking levels of corruption’
“This has always been about a shocking level of corruption,” U.S. Attorney Damien Williams, who prosecuted the case, said after the verdict.
“Hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes including gold, cash and Mercedes-Benzes. This wasn’t politics as usual, this was politics for profit,” Williams said in a statement. “Senator Menendez’s conviction finally ends his years of selling out his office to the highest bidder. Corruption doesn’t come without a cost; it erodes public trust and undermines the rule of law, which is why we are committed to fighting corruption, regardless of party affiliation.”
Prosecutors alleged that Menendez, 70, “sold his power” in exchange for gold bars, envelopes stuffed with cash, checks he gave to his wife for not working and a Mercedes-Benz convertible. The FBI found gold bars and more than $400,000 in cash hidden in various places in his home, including jackets and shoes, prosecutors said.
“It wasn’t enough for him to be one of the most powerful people in Washington,” federal prosecutor Paul Monteleone said in closing arguments on July 8. “Robert Menendez wanted all that power and he wanted to use it to amass wealth for himself and his wife.”
The defense denounced the Justice Department’s lawsuit as “cherry-picking nonsense.”
The defense argued that all of the acts described in the indictment were within the scope of Menendez’s job duties and that prosecutors had failed to prove he accepted bribes.
In his closing argument, defense lawyer Adam Fee derided the government’s arguments as “cherry-picking nonsense” and accused prosecutors of “whitewashing” the facts.
“The only honest verdict I can offer here is to find him not guilty on each count,” Fee told jurors on July 9. “His conduct was lawful and normal and good for the country.”
Mr. Menendez has declined to testify in his own defense. “In my view, the government has not proven every aspect of its case,” he told reporters as the defense left the courtroom on July 3.
He said his lawyers will present a “compelling and powerful closing argument” and that he hopes the jury will return a not guilty verdict.
New Jersey businessman Menendez’s wife charged in incident
Prosecutors told jurors that Senator Menendez promised to use his power to help Egypt. The deal was brokered by Hana, a New Jersey businessman and friend of Senator Menendez’s wife, Nadine, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said Hana received the senator’s assistance in maintaining a monopoly on halal meat.
Menendez was also accused of accepting a Mercedes-Benz convertible worth $60,000 in exchange for helping obstruct a lawsuit brought by the New Jersey Attorney General’s office.
In the spring of 2019, Jose Uribe, another New Jersey businessman who pleaded guilty in the case, gave Nadine $15,000 in cash, which she used as a down payment on a car, prosecutors said. “Congratulations. We are now the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes,” she texted Menendez, prosecutors said. Uribe continued to make monthly payments, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors alleged that the senator promised a third businessman, Mr. Daibes, that he would obstruct the federal prosecution of Mr. Daibes and support the Qatari government by supporting a Senate resolution praising Qatar.
Prosecutors said Dives’ fingerprints were found on an envelope of cash found at Menendez’s home, and serial numbers on gold bars matched those of Dives and Hana.
During two months of testimony, jurors heard Menendez’s sister explain why he was arrested with stacks of cash stuffed inside his embroidered congressional jacket. “It’s a Cuban custom,” Caridad Gonzalez said.
The defense also told jurors that Menendez and his wife, who is also charged in the case, lived separately and that the wife had financial concerns that she hid from her husband.
Messrs. Daibes and Hana pleaded not guilty to the charges. Uribe pleaded guilty and testified against the three defendants at trial.
Menendez’s wife has pleaded not guilty to the charges and will stand trial separately in August for health reasons. The senator revealed at the start of the trial in mid-May that she is battling grade 3 breast cancer.
Second corruption case against Menendez
Menendez, who has served as a New Jersey senator since 2006, is the first sitting member of Congress to be indicted on charges of conspiring as a foreign agent.
In June, he filed petitions to run for U.S. Senate in New Jersey as an independent candidate.
He has refused to resign but stepped down as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the initial indictment in September 2023.
This is the second time the senator has been indicted on corruption charges – a 2015 indictment ended in a mistrial in 2018 after a jury was unable to reach a verdict on all charges.
