Sen. Bob Menendez to resign after corruption conviction

Disgraced Sen. Bob Mendez is expected to resign next month after he was convicted of accepting bribes and being an agent of a foreign country.

The Washington Post confirmed he will resign effective Aug. 20 citing two people briefed on the matter.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy will appoint a replacement to finish Menendez’s term which ends on Jan. 3. The Senate is on recess from Aug. 5 to Sept. 6. They reconviene on Sept. 9.

The New York Times said Murphy’s decision will be made quickly.

The senator had faced 16 charges in a federal corruption case, The Associated Press reported.

The 70-year-old senator from New Jersey was accused of accepting bribes from 2018 to 2023 to help three New Jersey businessmen and serving as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government.

The three-term senator and the men who allegedly paid him in gold and cash had pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors said that nearly $150,000 worth of gold bars and more than $480,000 in cash were seized from his home in a 2022 FBI raid.

The senator’s lawyers said he did not accept bribes and the influence he used to help the businessmen was what is expected of a public official. He helped get $99 million of helicopter ammunition to Egypt. He said that the communication he had with the foreign government was part of his job as a senator and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position he no longer holds due to the charges he faced.

Menendez was found guilty of the following, according to The New York Times:

• Count 1: Conspiracy to Commit Bribery
• Count 2 - Conspiracy to Commit Honest Services Wire Fraud
• Count 3 - Conspiracy to Commit Extortion
• Count 4 - Conspiracy Obstruction of Justice
• Count 5 - Bribery
• Count 7 - Honest Services Wire Fraud
• Count 8 - Extortion
• Count 9 - Honest Services Wire Fraud
• Count 10 - Extortion
• Count 11 - Bribery
• Count 13 - Honest Services Wire Fraud
• Count 14 - Extortion
• Count 15 - Conspiracy for a Public Official to Act as a Foreign Agent
• Count 16 - Public Official Acting as a Foreign Agent
• Count 17 - Conspiracy to Commit Obstruction of Justice
• Count 18 - Obstruction of Justice

He had said he was going to appeal his conviction.

Menendez’s wife, Nadine, is a co-defendant in the case but her trial has been delayed indefinitely due to undergoing cancer treatments, NBC News reported.

Menedez had been running for reelection as an independent after being last elected as a Democrat. There had been calls for him to resign, but the conviction did not require him to. He also faced an expulsion vote in the Senate, The New York Times reported.

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