Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez found guilty on all counts in corruption charges

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was found guilty on all counts after his trial on charges of accepting bribes, including cash and gold bars, to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

Menendez had his hands crossed and his chin resting on his hands as the verdict was read. Some of his family members broke down in tears. He’ll be sentenced Oct. 29.

The jury deliberated for about 12 1/2 hours over three days before returning the verdicts.

Menendez was charged with 16 counts, including bribery, extortion, acting as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice and several counts of conspiracy. He had pleaded not guilty in the case, as did his wife, Nadine Menendez, whose trial was delayed indefinitely following her surgery after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Prosecutors said three businessmen paid bribes to Menendez and his wife in exchange for the senator taking actions to benefit them and the governments of Qatar and Egypt. According to prosecutors, those bribes included gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz given to Nadine Menendez and more than $480,000 in cash, which the FBI found stuffed into closets, jackets bearing Menendez’s name and other clothing when the bureau searched his New Jersey home in 2022.

Two of those businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, faced trial alongside Menendez. and were convicted on all counts as well. The third businessman who was charged, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty and testified during the trial, which lasted nine weeks before going to the jury Friday.

Menendez did not testify in his own defense; his team argued that he was acting on behalf of his constituents, as any senator should, and that the government had not proven that the cash or gold bars were given as bribes.

The verdict lands just months before Menendez’s Senate seat comes before New Jersey voters this fall. Menendez decided months ago, as his popularity took a hit, that he wouldn’t seek the Democratic nomination. But he filed to run as an independent, a move that threatened to complicate the dynamics in a race that would ordinarily be a layup for Democrats in the liberal state. The Democratic nominee for the seat is Rep. Andy Kim and the Republican nominee is Curtis Bashaw.

Menendez must now decide whether to continue pursuing that run. In March, he had indicated in a video statement that his candidacy could hinge on whether he’s exonerated of the charges. “I am hopeful that my exoneration will take place this summer and allow me to pursue my candidacy as an independent Democrat in the general election,” Menendez said at the time.

Kim said after the verdict that it was “a sad and somber day for New Jersey and our country.”

“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,” Kim said.

It was the second corruption trial of Menendez’s 18-year career in the Senate — the previous one resulted in a mistrial due to a hung jury in 2018, and the Justice Department subsequently dropped the charges against him; Menendez had also denied wrongdoing in that case.

Menendez previously served for 13 years in the House and was elected to the Senate in 2006, eventually rising to become the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His political career dates back nearly four decades to the mid-1980s, when he became mayor of Union City.

The outcome could affect whether he serves out his term. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has led the charge to push Menendez out for months, disparaging and mocking him as too corrupt to serve. A majority of Senate Democrats, including Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., as well as most of the state’s Democratic House delegation, also called on Menendez to resign. But Menendez has defied those calls and Senate leaders have largely held their fire and declined to comment until after the trial.

Though Menendez stepped aside as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee after the charges were brought, he has stayed on as a voting member of the committee and the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was asked repeatedly about Menendez in recent months and stuck to his script, saying only that he was disappointed in his colleague and that Menendez hadn’t lived up to the high standards expected of a senator. But he has stopped short of calling on him to resign.