On Tuesday, a jury convicted Senator Bob Menendez on all bribery and corruption charges.
According to the Associated Press
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty of accepting bribes in the form of gold and cash from three New Jersey businessmen and acting as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government.
The verdict came after a nine-week trial in which prosecutors argued that Menendez, a Democrat, abused his office to shield allies from criminal investigations and to benefit associates, including his wife, through various acts such as meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials and facilitating Egypt’s access to millions of dollars in U.S. military aid.
Menendez, 70, did not testify during the trial. He maintained publicly that he was only performing his duties as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He claimed that the gold bars discovered by the FBI in his New Jersey home belonged to his wife, Nadine Menendez. She was also charged, but her trial was postponed due to her recovery from breast cancer surgery. She has pleaded not guilty.
In March, Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were charged with obstruction of justice in an 18-count indictment related to a bribery scheme involving Egypt and Qatar.
In January, Menendez faced a second superseding indictment for praising Qatar in exchange for luxury watches. According to the indictment, “Menendez provided Daibes with these statements so that Daibes could share them with the Qatari Investor and a Qatari government official associated with the Qatari Investment Company,” NBC News reported.
In October, Menendez was charged with acting as a foreign agent in a superseding indictment. The indictment, filed by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, claimed that Menendez “provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt.”
Nadine Menendez reportedly received a “no-show” or “low-show” job, a Mercedes Benz, and other valuables. Damian Williams, a U.S. Attorney, stated that special agents discovered $500,000 in cash stuffed into envelopes in closets. “Some of the cash was stuffed in the Senator’s jacket pockets. Some of the envelopes of cash contained Daibes’ fingerprints and Daibes’ DNA,” Williams said at a press conference last month.
Evidence photos revealed cash, a Mercedes, and gold bars.
Nadine Menendez will go on trial next year after completing her cancer treatments.
This is a breaking story. Please check back for updates.