Democrat Bob Menendez Grovels to Trump After Being Sentenced to 11 Years

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted in July of corruption and bribery. The sentence is the longest ever imposed upon a former U.S. senator. 

Menendez did what he could to appeal to President Donald Trump — who could pardon him given that the case was federal — while speaking to reporters outside the courthouse. “Welcome to the Southern District of New York, the wild west of political prosecutions,” he said. “President Trump is right. This process is political and it’s corrupt to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.”

Menendez, who is 71 years old, did not elaborate on how his prosecution was political, given that he was a Democratic senator and the case was brought by a Democratic administration. Regardless, his comments stood in stark contrast to the contrition he expressed earlier. During his statement to the court, a tearful Menendez described himself as a “chastened man.” 

“Other than family, I have lost everything I ever cared about,” the former senator said. “For someone who spent his entire life in public service, every day I’m awake is a punishment.”

District Judge Sidney Stein wasn’t having it. “Somewhere along the way, you became, I’m sorry to say, a corrupt politician,” the judge said. “The public cannot be led to the belief that you can get away with bribery, fraud, and betrayal.” 

In September 2023, Menedez was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion. Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York allege that Menendez and his wife “agreed to and did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using Menendez’s power and influence as a Senator to seek to protect and enrich,” three men with connections to the Egyptian government. Prosecutors later leveled additional charges against him related to the abuse of his elected office to unlawfully aid the governments of Egypt and Qatar. 

Authorities who raided Menendez’s home found solid gold bars and envelopes stuffed with cash, all evidence of the long-running racket run by the then chair of the Senate Foreign Relation Committee. Although Menendez stepped down from the committee, he refused to resign from his seat in the Senate until after his conviction. 

The sentencing marks an end to one of the most blatant abuses of elected office in American history, and — as Judge Stein put it —  Menendez will have “plenty of time” to reflect on his fall from grace.