Well, today is the day. Former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) got sentenced to 11 years in prison for the outrageous corruption and bribery scandal that ended his career in public life. Boss Bob, known in the Garden State, had evaded accountability for his shady schemes. Menendez faced 15 years in prison.
In 2015, the Obama Justice Department tried to convict him regarding his relationship with a Florida-based ophthalmologist and donor, Salomon Melgen, who bestowed lavish gifts to Mr. Menendez in return for allegedly pushing his business interests. Melgen would later be found guilty of being part of a Medicare fraud scheme. They never got him, but that didn’t dissuade the Justice Department from keeping an eye on Menendez.
BREAKING: New York Federal Judge Sidney Stein just said he's sentencing Bob Menendez to 11 years in prison for engaging in a sweeping bribery scheme while head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) January 29, 2025
“Somewhere along the way, you became, I’m sorry to say, a corrupt politician”
In 2023, he was indicted after almost $500,000 in cash was discovered throughout his home, including a horde of gold bars. He earned the moniker “gold bar Bob” over this discovery.
NEW: Menendez reportedly CRIED as he begged the judge for leniency during sentencing. https://t.co/VUXzy8zO70
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 29, 2025
These items, along with payments toward his home mortgage and luxury cars, were payments made to him by the Egyptian government in return for favorable policy decisions from his position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The number of superseding indictments that followed was quite the merry-go-round, as the New Jersey Democrat was indicted for failing to register as a foreign agent.
The case got messy as Bob refused to resign and mulled, throwing his wife under the bus. Last July, a jury found him guilty on all counts.
Menendez survived the first corruption case but not the second—the gold bars proved to be a bridge too far for his Senate Democratic colleagues, who cleaved him from the herd once the indictments were handed down.
A trembling Bob Menendez just spoke in court before imposition of sentence:
— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) January 29, 2025
“...other than family, I have lost everything I ever cared about...Every day I’m awake is a punishment,” he said, asking the judge “to temper your sword of justice with the mercy of a lifetime of duty”
Menendez must report to jail on June 6.
Menendez must report to the federal Bureau of Prisons by June 6.
— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) January 29, 2025