The federal jury weighing evidence in the bribery case against Democrat U.S. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey returned its verdict on Tuesday afternoon: Guilty on all counts.
Menendez faced more than one dozen charges in the case and pleaded "not guilty" to all of them, maintaining his innocence. The jury disagreed after more than 12 hours of deliberations over three days.
Prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said in his closing statement that Menendez "sold the power of his office" and "also wanted to use [his power as a senator] to pile up riches for himself and his wife," according to courtroom reporting from The New York Post.
In total, Menendez now faces up to 200 years in prison based on the maximum sentences assigned to each of the counts on which he was found guilty.
SENATOR #MENENDEZ FOUND GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS OF CONSPIRACY, FRAUD, OBSTRUCTION & EXTORTION
— Susan Li (@SusanLiTV) July 16, 2024
Faces a maximum of 200 years behind bars
While the outcome of the case is now known, Menendez's plans regarding his U.S. Senate seat — from which he still has not resigned — remain unclear for now. Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), had refrained from calling for him to step down following the indictment or during the trial.
Prosecutors indicted Menendez — and his wife Nadine Menendez (Arslanian) — last September for a "corrupt relationship with three New Jersey associates and businessmen" between 2018 and 2022.
According to the indictment, Senator Menendez and his wife "agreed to and did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes" in return for Menendez's "power and influence as a senator to protect and enrich" the three individuals — named as Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes — and "to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt" as well as Qatar.
Some wild photos from the indictment: https://t.co/F3nbTWGmPr pic.twitter.com/t1s4elB9vJ
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) September 22, 2023
Menendez, notably, served as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee until the indictment was unsealed, leading him to relinquish the gavel while the case made its way through the court system.
The initial federal indictment (embedded in full below) further alleged that the bribes "included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value" — in addition to allegations that Menendez "provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt."
As Townhall reported at the time of the indictment:
When search warrants for the Menendez home and a safe deposit box were executed in June 2022, federal agents found the "fruits" of the alleged bribery agreement including more than $480,000 in cash "much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe," with some envelopes containing "the fingerprints and/or DNA of Daibes or his driver."
A prior federal corruption case against Senator Menendez brought in 2017 ended in a mistrial, apparently right around the time he started up the allegedly corrupt scheme at issue in the latest indictment. In his most recent scheme, Menendez wasn't so lucky.
This is a developing story and may be updated.