Convicted New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez is set to resign from office this summer after being found guilty of more than a dozen corruption-related charges.
The long-running bribery trial against the veteran Garden State lawmaker concluded last week and he was found guilty on all 16 counts. He now faces up to 222 years in prison for his crimes.
The jury found him guilty of accepting gold bullion, cash and a luxury convertible from several New Jersey businessmen in exchange for political favors.
The Democrat has vowed to appeal his conviction.
But in an attempt to salvage some of his credibility, Menendez decided to throw in the towel and wrote a letter to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy about his plans to resign.
Menendez allegedly used his high-profile position as former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to help a man negotiate a contract with Egyptian officials.
“Please be advised that I will be resigning from my position as United States Senator from New Jersey, effective at the close of business on August 20, 2024,” Menendez wrote to Murphy on Tuesday.
“This will give my staff time to transition to other possibilities, transfer pending constituent files, allow for an orderly process to select an interim replacement, and for me to close my business in the Senate.”
Almost immediately after he was found guilty by the jury, top Senate Democrats began calling for their colleague to resign.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Menendez to “now do the right thing for his constituents, the Senate and our country, and resign.”
But Menendez denied his conviction in his resignation letter, saying he would appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court if necessary.
‘While I fully intend to appeal the jury’s verdict, all the way to the Supreme Court, I do not want the Senate to become embroiled in a lengthy process that detracts from its important work.’
He also mentioned how during his trial Senate staff were called to testify, which complicated his case.
The veteran lawmaker sat for more than eight weeks in a New York federal courtroom as witnesses and prosecutors revealed the fascinating details of his alleged scheme to reward several New Jersey businessmen with favors in exchange for payments, prosecutors alleged.
Cash was found in envelopes inside a jacket bearing the senator’s name during an FBI raid at his New Jersey home.
‘Furthermore, I cannot preserve my rights in the event of a successful appeal, because the facts presented to the ethics committee are not confidential. Proof of this is that the personnel director and the chief counsel of the committee were called to testify at my trial.’
The Democrat then went on to tout his accomplishments, adding how the governor used to refer to him with an enthusiastic nickname.
‘I am proud of the many accomplishments I have had on behalf of New Jersey, including leading the federal effort to recover from Superstorm Sandy, preserving and funding Gateway, and leading federal efforts to save our hospitals, state and municipalities, as well as New Jersey families during a once-in-a-century COVID pandemic.’
‘These successes led you, Governor, to call me the ‘Indispensable Senator,’ Menéndez wrote brazenly.
“I thank the citizens of New Jersey for the extraordinary privilege of representing them in the United States Senate,” his resignation letter concludes.
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez has been found guilty of participating in a years-long foreign corruption scheme that netted him gold bullion, cash and a new car. His wife Nadine, pictured above, is also charged in the scheme but will be tried separately.
Menendez used his high-profile position as former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to help a man negotiate a contract with Egyptian officials, prosecutors said at trial.
And he used his influence as New Jersey’s top senator to quash a state investigation into a state insurance fraud case committed by another accomplice, prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, Menendez’s defense argued that the Democrat was afraid of being left with nothing and his Cuban heritage was the reason he stored gold and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in his home.
Menendez is scheduled to be sentenced on October 29.