Bob Menendez Guilty by Jury
New York, US, Jul 16 (EFE).-
United States Democrat Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez was found guilty by a jury on Tuesday in a New York court on 16 counts of bribery and corruption; the sentencing will be on Oct. 29, according to Judge Sidney Stein.
Prosecutors accused Menendez, chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife, Nadine, of being “foreign agents” and accepting million-dollar gifts from Egypt and Qatar to help them politically.
Between 2018 and 2022, Menendez and Nadine accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including gold, cash, mortgage payments, a Mercedes-Benz, and a “low- or no-show job” for Nadine.
The senator did not accept a plea agreement that could have reduced his sentence and presented the gifts he received as something natural in the activity of a politician.
Menendez, the son of Cuban immigrants, was elected to the Senate for the first time in 2006, becoming one of the main advocates of Latino causes.
Menendez resigned as chairman of the committee but not from his seat in the Senate, where his party holds 50 of 100 seats and retains a majority only thanks to the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.
His conviction and expected disqualification could complicate matters for the Democratic Party in the Upper House.
Although Menendez’s wife was also charged, her trial was postponed indefinitely for health reasons.
This is not the first time Menendez has been charged with corruption. In 2015, he was accused of accepting payments to his campaign from a wealthy Florida ophthalmologist. EFE
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