Disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) reported to federal prison to begin his 11-year prison sentence on Tuesday, after being found guilty of 16 bribery and corruption charges last summer.
The New Jersey Democrat is in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution, Schuylkill in Minersville, Pennsylvania, where he is “likely” to end up in the minimum-security camp, the Associated Press reported.
Menendez, who prosecutors said accepted bribes of hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars, mortgage payments, and more, was found guilty on all charges, including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent, and obstruction on July 16, ABC News reported.
He resigned the month after his conviction and was sentenced this January, along with co-conspirators Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, two New Jersey businessmen who received more than seven years and eight years respectively.
In exchange for the money and luxury items, federal prosecutors in New York said the ex-lawmaker “agreed and promised to use his power and influence as a Senator to seek to protect” Hana and Daibes, including taking actions to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar on their behalf.
Menendez also attempted to disrupt the subsequent criminal investigations into his associates, and “conspired and endeavored to obstruct justice in connection with the federal investigation” into his entire scheme.
A third businessman associated with Menendez, Jose Uribe, flipped on him and took a plea deal in May 2024. As part of the deal, Uribe admitted to making payments on a luxury Mercedes-Benz convertible car for the senator’s wife, Nadine Menendez, after she totaled her own Mercedes in a 2018 crash that killed a pedestrian, according to NorthJersey.com.
Following his January sentencing, Menendez appeared like he tried to appeal for a pardon from President Donald Trump, likening his prosecution to the political lawfare against Trump, especially in New York.
“President Trump was right,” he told reporters outside the courthouse after receiving his 11-year judgement. “This process is political and is corrupted to its core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.”
Menendez was previously hit with federal charges including bribery, fraud, and making false statements in a separate 2015 case, with prosecutors alleging that he asked State Department officials to pressure the Dominican government to enforce a port-security contract that would benefit the company of a wealthy campaign donor with whom he had been having sex parties — a story Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle uncovered at the Daily Caller in 2012.
In a shocking turnaround, the case ended in a mistrial in November 2017 before the Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped all charges against the senator in 2018, Breitbart News reported.
Just weeks before he reported to prison, Menendez juxtaposed Trump’s DOJ to former President Barack Obama’s, accusing the Democrats of coming after him for opposing Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, when he was chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC):
“People talk about the Trump DOJ, but it was the Democrats who started weaponizing the Justice Dept. When, as the Chairman of the SFRC, I didn’t go along with Obama’s Iran deal, I was indicted, and the next day after being stripped of my position, Obama announced the Iran deal,” the former senator wrote in a May 30 thread on X.
He continued, “Obama told me that he could not have the Democratic Chairman of the SFRC be against him. By having me removed as the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama removed my major opposition to his Iran deal. It was a bad deal for the U.S. and for our ally, Israel.”
“This was the ultimate weaponization of the Justice Dept. for a political purpose… So when Democrats talk about weaponizing the Justice Dept, they should look into their own past actions. Obama was willing to use the Justice Department to pursue and preserve the legacy issue he felt would earn him the Nobel Prize he had received.”
Menendez, 71, has maintained his innocence in both cases.
His wife, Nadine, was convicted in April on related charges for her role in her husband’s scheme, with her sentencing scheduled for September 11.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
Read the full article here