Bob Menendez found guilty of bribery and extortion

New Jersey senator Bob Menendez was found guilty of all sixteen charges today, including bribery, extortion, acting as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice and several counts of conspiracy.

Three businessmen paid bribes to the Democratic senator and his wife in exchange for taking actions to benefit them and the governments of Qatar and Egypt, or so the prosecutors argued. Those bribes included $100,000 in gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz and more than $480,000 in cash. Two of the New Jersey businessmen tried alongside Menendez were also convicted on all counts.

Menendez did not plead guilty or testify in his own defense. His team argued that he was acting on behalf of his constituents and that the prosecution couldn’t prove that the gold bars and money were bribes. The senator told reporters last week that the government failed to prove “every aspect” of its case and that testifying would “give them another chance.” Menendez will remain on GPS ankle monitoring and must remain home on Saturdays and Sundays. On weekdays he has a 9 p.m. curfew. Menendez will be officially sentenced on October 29.

Bob’s wife Nadine also faced several charges, but her case will be dealt with separately from the others as she will undergo surgery due to breast cancer. Her trial is scheduled for August. Supposedly Menendez’s attorneys sought to pin the blame on Nadine at times.

Election season is coming up for Menendez’s Senate seat, but the senator announced a few months ago that he would not seek the Democratic nomination. Even amid the controversy, he filed to run as an independent. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promptly called on 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 said in a statement today. Others have called for Menendez to resign, including representative Andy Kim, coincidentally the Democratic nominee to replace Menendez in the Senate.

This isn’t the first time Menendez has faced charges. He was charged with corruption in 2015, but the charges were dropped after the jury failed to reach a verdict.