Disgraced former New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez has officially reported to start his time in federal prison.
After a last ditch attempt to avoid actual jail time was denied on June 11, Menendez arrived at a Pennsylvania federal prison Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
In July 2024, Menendez was found guilty on a litany of charges that effectively brought his decades-long political career to a screeching halt.
Essentially, Menendez had sold his clout.
“FBI agents found $480,000 in cash in his home, some of it stuffed inside boots and jacket pockets, along with gold bars worth an estimated $150,000 and a luxury convertible in the garage,” the AP noted.
The outlet added: “In exchange, prosecutors said, Menendez performed corrupt favors for New Jersey business owners, including protecting them from criminal investigations, helping in business deals with foreign powers and meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials before helping Egypt access $300 million in U.S. military aid.”
The allegations and conviction were enough for Menendez to face a scathing rebuke — even from within his own party.
For instance, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, swiftly called for Menendez’s resignation from the Senate after the guilty verdict:
In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 16, 2024
Do you think there are other lawmakers who have also committed crimes?
“In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” Schumer posted.
And Menendez did just that, resigning from his post a month after the conviction, per the AP.
That resignation would end “roughly five decades in Democratic politics that took him from the local school board to chair of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”
According to NBC News, an attorney for the 71-year-old Menendez described his prison sentence as both a “life and death sentence.”
Also implicated in this mess is Menendez’s wife, Nadine.
She was convicted separately in the bribery scheme, per NBC, and faces her sentencing in September. Her legal proceedings were delayed so that she could receive cancer treatment.
Menendez was convicted of extortion, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and acting as a foreign agent.
The man now derisively nicknamed “Gold Bar Bob” faces 11 years in prison.
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