After enduring nearly 10 weeks of testimony and another three days of sequester, the jury hearing the state’s charges of bribery, fraud, extortion, and other crimes against Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and then listening to his defense attorneys’ implausible and self-serving explanations for his misdeeds, the jury on Tuesday found the senator guilty of all 16 charges.
If given the maximum sentences for each crime, Menendez could spend up to 200 years in jail. That’s not the outcome he expected.
Defiant from the beginning, Menendez declared his innocence and refused to resign from his position as senior senator from New Jersey. He and his attorneys declared that he was acting well within his authority and was just wanting to help out his wife’s three friends. In addition, his wife Nadine had a hand in the crime, which she kept secret from him.
In exchange for favors granted, Menendez stupidly hid a lot of the fruit of the bribes — cash and gold bars — at home. Revelations included titillating photos provided by the federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York along with this statement:
Over $480,000 in cash — much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe — was discovered in the home, as well as over $70,000 in Nadine Menendez’s safe deposit box, which was also searched pursuant to a separate search warrant.
Some of the envelopes contained the fingerprints and/or DNA of Daibes or his driver. Other of the envelopes were found inside jackets bearing Menendez’s name and hanging in his closet.
Among the bribes was a nice new 2019 Mercedes-Benz for his wife Nadine. This was part of the package: She introduced her new husband to a friend, who then extended the offer of influence to two of his friends. Menendez had previously skated on corruption charges in the past, and no doubt thought could dip his toe into company ink once again, for profit, without getting caught.
As the prosecutors explained:
Without telling his professional staff or the State Department that he was doing so, on or about May 7, 2018, Menendez texted that sensitive, non-public embassy information to his then-girlfriend Nadine Menendez, who forwarded the message to Hana, who forwarded it to an Egyptian government official.
Later that same month, Menendez ghost-wrote a letter on behalf of Egypt to other U.S. Senators advocating for them to release a hold on $300 million in aid to Egypt.
Menendez sent this ghost-written letter to Nadine Menendez, who forwarded it to Hana, who sent it to Egyptian officials.
Menendez even tried to rope Joe Biden into the crime:
Between December 2020 and 2022, Menendez agreed to attempt to influence the pending federal prosecution of Daibes in exchange for cash, furniture, and gold bars that Daibes provided to Menendez and Nadine Menendez.
In furtherance of this aspect of the scheme, Menendez recommended that the President nominate an individual (“Official-3”) as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey who Menendez believed he could influence with respect to Daibes’s case.
The jury must have had difficulty restraining their laughter at part of Menendez’s explanation for hoarding all the loot at home:
For 30 years, I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account, which I have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba.
Now, this may seem old-fashioned. But these were monies drawn from my personal savings account, based on the income that I have lawfully derived over those 30 years.
The jury must also have had difficulty restraining from laughing at another part of Menendez’s defense: His wife Nadine was having money problems of her own and didn’t want her husband to know about them. In his opening statement, Menendez’s high-priced attorney, Avi Weitzman, said with a straight face: “Let me say this about Nadine: Nadine had financial concerns that she kept from Bob.”
Menendez’s close friends in the Senate, who have known about his corruption for years, bailed on him after the verdict was announced. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for him to resign: “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 was joined by New Jersey’s junior Senator Cory Booker, along with New Jersey’s Governor Phil Murphy. Murphy said that if Menendez doesn’t resign, he will demand that the Senate expel him.
This is laughable on its face. Menendez’s long history of corruption comes to 14 pages at DiscoverTheNetworks.org, while Schumer’s covers 25 pages and Booker’s 11 pages.
Menendez warned his corrupt colleagues in the Senate in this veiled threat after half the Democrat caucus demanded that he resign back in September: “I’m innocent — and I intend to prove my innocence, not just for me, but for the precedent this case will set for you and future members of the Senate.”
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, whose office prosecuted the successful case against Menendez, said that it “has always been about shocking levels of corruption,” adding that his investigation uncovered
Hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes, including gold, cash, and a Mercedes-Benz. This wasn’t politics as usual; this was politics for profit.
Because Senator Menendez has now been found guilty, his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end.
Corruption isn’t costless: it erodes public trust, and it undermines the rule of law. That’s why we’re so committed to fighting it, regardless of political party.
One of the three business partners previously turned state’s evidence as part of a plea bargain. The other two were also convicted on all charges along with Menendez on Tuesday.
Menendez’s attorneys have announced that they will appeal the verdict. In the meantime, Nadine will face similar charges when her trial starts in August.
Related articles:
New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez’s Corruption Trial Starts Today
Senator Menendez Caught Trying to Blame His Wife for His Misdeeds
Senator Menendez Enters Not-guilty Plea to New Charges
Additional Charges Filed Against New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez
