U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez was convicted on Tuesday of all the counts 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 jury’s verdict followed a nine-week trial in which prosecutors said the Democrat abused the power of his office to protect allies from criminal investigations and enrich associates, including his wife, through acts that included meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials and helping that country access millions of dollars in U.S. military aid.
Menendez did not testify but insisted publicly he was only doing his job as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said the hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash found in his New Jersey home was legally earned, and that gold bars hidden there belonged to his wife.
The verdict, delivered at a federal courthouse in Manhattan, comes four months before Election Day and potentially dooms Menendez’s chances of campaigning for reelection as an independent candidate.
