Senator Bob Menendez was convicted on federal bribery charges at a Manhattan courthouse today, marking a stunning fall from grace for the New Jersey Democrat and former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman.
Menendez had been accused by federal prosecutors of accepting bribes in cash, gold, and gifts in exchange for official acts he took in Washington. He was charged with 16 counts of bribery, extortion, wire services fraud, obstruction of justice, and acting as an agent of a foreign government – and was convicted on all counts.
The senator, who had pled not guilty, must now decide whether to continue his bid for re-election as an independent. He has until August 16 to make a final determination.
In remarks after the verdict was delivered, Menendez remained defiant, saying that he is “deeply, deeply disappointed” by the outcome and that he plans to appeal.
“I have every faith that the law and the facts did not sustain that decision and that we will be successful upon appeal,” Menendez said, per the New Jersey Monitor. “I have never violated my public oath. I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.”
But in the meantime, there will be intense pressure for him to resign from office, and if he doesn’t, there could be a rekindled effort among senators to expel him. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who had previously declined to take a firm stance on Menendez’s future, called for him to resign shortly after the verdict was announced.
“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 said.
Gov. Phil Murphy, who would be tasked with appointing Menendez’s successor if he departed the Senate, went even further, saying that the Senate should expel Menendez if he doesn’t leave voluntarily.
“I reiterate my call for Senator Menendez to resign immediately after being found guilty of endangering national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system,” Murphy said. “If he refuses to vacate his office, I call on the U.S. Senate to 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.”
Menendez’s two co-defendants, businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes – who were accused of bribing the senator for personal benefit – were also found guilty on every charge levied against them. A fourth defendant, Menendez’s wife Nadine Menendez, had her own trial delayed due to a breast cancer diagnosis.
Sentencing for all three has been set for October 29.
Menendez – a former Union City mayor, state legislator, and congressman – was first appointed to the Senate in 2006, and re-elected that year and again in 2012. In 2015, he was charged in a different bribery case involving gifts from a Florida eye doctor; that case ultimately ended in a mistrial after jurors could not come to an agreement, and Menendez was re-elected once again in 2018.
In that first trial, most New Jersey Democrats stood behind the senator and defended him from accusations of corruption. When federal prosecutors unsealed a new indictment of Menendez last September, however, that support did not hold, and nearly all top New Jersey Democrats have called on Menendez to step down; Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) is the Democratic nominee to replace him this year.
“This is a sad and somber day for New Jersey and our country,” Kim said today. “Our public servants should work for the people, and today we saw the people judge Senator Menendez as guilty and unfit to serve. I called on Senator Menendez to step down when these charges were first made public, and now that he has been found guilty, I believe the only course of action for him is to resign his seat immediately. The people of New Jersey deserve better.”
Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York alleged in their indictment that Menendez “put his power up for sale” and that he acted like a “bribed man” in secret meetings with Egyptian officials. A search warrant executed on Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs home in 2022 found more than $480,000 in cash stuffed in Menendez’s boots, jacket, and other places – and gold bars.
Menendez used a “blame the wife” legal strategy, suggesting that Nadine Menendez made deals and took money and gifts, including a Mercedes convertible, without his knowledge, suggesting the senator couldn’t access his wife’s bedroom closet.
Defense attorney Adam Fee had warned the jury to beware of “overzealous prosecutors” who had failed to prove a “painfully thin” case. He asked jurors to disbelieve salacious accusations because they were not true.
But prosecutors mocked the idea that Nadine Menendez was a rogue player, and the senior U.S. Senator was the victim, instead saying that she was just a “go-between” in an elaborate bribery scheme.
“You don’t get to be the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by being clueless,” Paul Monteleoni said. “Throughout this trial, you heard that everyone was to blame but Menendez.”
He also disputed the notion that these were gifts, not bribes: “Friends do not give friends envelopes stuffed with $10,000 in cash, just out of friendship. Friends do not give those same friends kilogram bars of gold worth $60,000 each out of the goodness of their hearts.”
The Justice Department divided their prosecution into chapters, with witnesses being called to testify about separate schemes involving Menendez and his wife, along with two co-defendants, businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes.
Hana was accused of bribing Menendez with gold bars and a no-show job for his wife to help him obtain a hugely lucrative Halal meat contract with the Egyptian government. The government claimed Daibes bribed Menendez in exchange for the senator’s intervention in an unrelated federal prosecution.
Another New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, was initially indicted with Menendez and charged with bribing the senator to intervene in a state prosecution involving one of his business partners. Uribe pleaded guilty and testified against Menendez as a cooperating witness. Defense attorneys painted Uribe as a liar.
U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger and former New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal testified about Menendez’s contact with them in a bid to influence their respective cases.
Menendez did not testify in his own defense.
This story has been steadily updated as more information has become available.