(The Center Square) — New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez has been found guilty of 16 counts of bribery and other charges in his federal corruption trial.
On Tuesday, a New York City jury found the lawmaker guilty of accepting "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in bribes in exchange for wielding his influence to benefit foreign governments and a trio of businessmen.
Menendez, 70, and his co-defendants, New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were accused by federal prosecutors in a bribery scheme from 2018 to 2023 to benefit three New Jersey businessmen, including by serving as a foreign agent for the government of Egypt. The senator denied any wrongdoing and accused prosecutors of targeting him.
“I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country," Menendez said as he left the courtroom with his lawyers, vowing to appeal the verdict. "I have never, ever been a foreign agent."
The verdict makes Menendez the first sitting U.S. Senator to be convicted of acting as an agent for a foreign government.
"This wasn’t politics as usual, this was politics for profit," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams outside the courthouse in Manhattan. "And now that a jury has convicted Bob Menendez, his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end."
Shortly after the verdict was announced, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took to social media to call on Menendez to step down.
"In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign," Schumer, a New York Democrat, said.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the verdict "demonstrates that the senator broke the law, violated the trust of his constituents, and betrayed his oath of office. It also shows that in America, everyone – no matter how powerful – is accountable to our laws."
Murphy, a Democrat, reiterated his previous calls for Menendez to step down and said if he doesn't, the Senate should vote to expel him.
"In the event of a vacancy, I will exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to ensure the people of New Jersey have the representation they deserve," Murphy said.
Federal prosecutors unsealed a 39-page indictment in September accusing Menendez and his wife of accepting gold bars, cash and other bribes in exchange for wielding his political influence for Egypt and his business friends.
A month later, federal prosecutors filed a new indictment accusing Menendez of acting as a "foreign agent" for Egypt by shepherding billions in military aid that previously had been denied to the country over its record of human rights abuses. Then, a second superseding indictment, filed in January, unveiled new accusations that Menendez accepted gifts from the Qatari government.
FBI agents said they found more than $480,000 in cash during a search of his home – some of it in envelopes stuffed into a jacket with his name on it – gold bars and a Mercedes Benz.
Menendez will be sentenced on Oct. 29, just a week before the November election, and faces decades in federal prison.
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