US Senator Robert Menendez convicted of bribery and exploiting power for Egypt
A Manhattan jury on Tuesday convicted US Senator Robert Menendez of 16 counts of accepting gold and cash bribes from three New Jersey businessmen and acting as a foreign agent of the Egyptian government.
The verdict came after a nine-week trial, in which prosecutors presented evidence that the Democratic lawmaker abused his authority to protect his allies from criminal investigations, enriching himself and his allies, including his wife, through activities that included meetings with Egyptian intelligence officials and helping Egypt obtain military aid from the United States.
In the closing argument of Menendez’s corruption trial, the prosecutor asserted that the senator put his power up for sale in exchange for bribes offered by businessmen to him and his wife.
Although Menendez, 70, didn’t testify during the trial, he publicly stated that he was performing his duties as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The gold bars found by the FBI at his home in New Jersey allegedly belonged to his wife, Nadine Menendez, who also faces charges but is awaiting trial after recovering from breast cancer surgery.
The ruling was handed down four months before congressional elections, which could destroy Menendez’s chances of running for re-election as an independent candidate.
Menendez resigned as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after being impeached in September, but he had planned to run independently again in New Jersey.
