“I do not want the Senate to be involved in a lengthy process that will detract from its important work.” That was Bob Menendez, writing to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy last month to say he was leaving. The resignation took effect Tuesday.
It ends a Senate run that began in 2006, when John Corzine appointed him to the seat. Corzine had just been elected governor and was giving it up. Menendez had been in Congress even longer, first elected to the House in 1993.
Now 70, he goes out as a convicted man. A jury found him guilty in July on 16 counts of bribery. Prosecutors said he took payments, including gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz, to help the Qatari and Egyptian governments. Sentencing is set for October, and the term could be a long one.
Menendez says he did nothing wrong. He plans to appeal.
What jurors saw
At the nine-week trial, prosecutors described what FBI agents found in his home: more than $480,000 in cash, tucked into envelopes and coats. Gold bars worth more than $100,000 sat alongside it. Some of the bullion was brought into court as evidence.
The defense line was that the gifts were not bribes, because no one showed he took a specific official act in return. Lawyers also pointed at his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, as a financially troubled woman looking to “get cash and assets any way she could.”
She faces bribery charges too and has pleaded not guilty. Her trial was postponed while she received treatment for breast cancer.
Last-minute moves
For weeks Menendez ignored calls to quit. His name stayed on the November ballot until last week.
On Monday, a day before he left, his legal team filed a 30-page motion asking a federal judge to overturn the verdict. The filing called the evidence a “surprisingly thin reed” and warned that the convictions, if upheld, “will make terrible, dangerous law.” It ended: “All of Senator Menendez’s convictions must be reversed.”
Murphy, a fellow Democrat, is expected to fill the vacancy with a close ally, former chief of staff George Samir Helmy. Helmy would serve until voters elect a successor in November.
