Sen. Bob Menendez found guilty in bribery trial

NEW YORK - U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez has been convicted of all the charges he faced at his corruption trial, including accepting bribes of gold and cash from three New Jersey businessmen and acting as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government.

THE BRIEF:

• Menendez was indicted in September on charges that he, his wife and three business associates engaged in a scheme in which the senator traded promises to use his office for cash, gold bars and a luxury vehicle. He pleaded not guilty.
• The New Jersey senator was on trial with two businessmen, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, who were also found guilty. His wife, Nadine Menendez, is charged in the case as well, but her trial has been postponed following her breast cancer diagnosis.
• The senator, who has represented New Jersey since 2006, declined to run as a Democrat for reelection this year and filed this month to get on the ballot as an independent. This is the second time in a decade that Menendez, 70, has been accused in a federal corruption case.

What are the charges?

Sen/ Menendez was convicted on 16 charges of bribery, fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. 

The evidence included gold bars and over $400,000 in cash that the FBI found during a search of his house, which prosecutors said was tucked inside "a safe, in jacket pockets, in shoes, all over the house."

In return for bribes, prosecutors said, the senator took official acts to aid Daibes, Hana, and another businessman, Jose Uribe. According to prosecutors, these include:

• Hana receiving support and protection for his monopoly on the certification of meat exports to Egypt
• Daibes receiving help in his business interests and efforts by the senator to disrupt a federal criminal prosecution against him by recommending a longtime friend as U.S. attorney after the election of President Joe Biden
• Preventing New Jersey state investigations from affecting Uribe's insurance business
• Speedily clearing nearly $100 million in military aid for Egypt

Who are the key players?

Nadine Menendez is the wife of the senator.

Fred Daibes is a prominent New Jersey real estate developer.

Wael Hana obtained a monopoly to certify that meat exported to Egypt from the United States conformed to Islamic dietary requirements.

Jose Uribe is a businessman who testified against Menendez, accusing him of accepting bribes to ensure his company was not affected by New Jersey criminal probes of a trucking company belonging to his friend.

Menendez bribery case: Timeline

• Early 2018: Bob and Nadine Menendez begin dating.
• 2018: Prosecutors allege that this is when Menendez began accepting bribes from the three businessmen
• October 2020: Bob and Nadine Menendez marry and move into her Englewood Cliffs home.
• 2022: Gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash were found in a raid of Menendez's Englewood Cliffs residence.
• Sept. 2023: Menendez, his wife, and the three businessmen face bribery charges
• May 15: Jurors began hearing opening statements.
• July 8: Closing arguments began.

What are prosecutors saying?

Prosecutors portrayed Menendez as someone who had betrayed his country.

They say evidence includes:

• Hundreds of emails and text messages between the businessmen and Menendez and his wife
• Fingerprint evidence linking the businessmen and Menendez to the bribes, including fingerprints on the tape that bound thousands of dollars in cash hidden in coat pockets, boots and boxes
• Gold bars, over $480,000 in cash and a Mercedes-Benz discovered during the 2022 FBI raid

What did Menendez saying? What did his attorneys claim?

"We have stripped away the government's false narrative and exposed their lies," Menendez said after closing arguments Wednesday.

His attorney called the case "painfully thin" and argued that Menendez's actions were a part of his job.

"He was doing his job. He was doing it well," attorney Adam Fee told the Manhattan federal court jury.

Menendez's lawyers have argued that tens of thousands of dollars in cash found in Bob Menendez's boots and jackets resulted from his habit of storing cash at home after hearing from his family how they escaped Cuba in 1951 with only the cash they had hidden in their home.

Lawyers have also asserted that his wife kept him in the dark about her financial troubles and assistance she requested from the businessmen.

Local NJ politicians react

"I call on Senator Menendez to resign," NJ Sen. Cory Booker said on X. "I originally did so last fall because of the severity of the allegations against him and how they shook the public’s trust. Now with this conviction, the urgency for Senator Menendez to step down and for the governor to appoint a replacement has even more urgency."

"Today’s verdict finding Senator Bob Menendez guilty on 16 counts demonstrates that the Senator broke the law, violated the trust of his constituents, and betrayed his oath of office. In America, everyone – no matter how powerful – is accountable to our laws," Murphy said in a post on X. 

"This is a sad and somber day for New Jersey and our country," Rep. Andy Kim said. "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."

Who is Sen. Bob Menendez?

Menendez, 70, was born in Manhattan and raised in the New Jersey cities of Hoboken and Union City before practicing as a lawyer and launching his political career, his sister, Caridad Gonzalez, testified.

He has held public office continuously since 1986, serving as a state legislator before 14 years as a U.S. congressman. In 2006, then-Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Menendez to the Senate seat he vacated when he became governor.

He quit his powerful post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after his arrest but resisted calls for his resignation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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