Bob Menendez, the former New Jersey senator who was convicted last year on multiple corruption charges, is set to begin his prison sentence Tuesday, June 17. Menendez has continued fighting for his freedom despite the impending prison term, culminating in a denial of bail on Wednesday, June 11, by a federal appeals panel.
Menendez was convicted in July 2024 on 16 felony counts that included bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent, and obstruction. The jury found Menendez guilty of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for getting businessmen out of legal trouble and helping direct American funds to Egypt and Qatar.
U.S. Judge Sidney Stein handed down his 11-year sentence in January in a Manhattan district court.
“The sentences imposed today result from an egregious abuse of power at the highest levels of the Legislative Branch of the federal government,” U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon said in a statement at the time of Menendez’s sentencing. “He used his position to help his co-conspirators and a foreign government, in exchange for bribes like cash, gold, and a luxury car.”
In a series of posts on X from June 11, Menendez accused the prosecutors in his case of “loading unconstitutional evidence onto a laptop they gave to the jury.” He added, “The illegal evidence, that the Judge had ruled inadmissible, violated the Congressional immunity clause of the Constitution.”
A week earlier, on June 2, Menendez claimed that his opposition to former President Barack Obama’s policies rekindling relations between the U.S. and Cuba ultimately led to an indictment by the then-head of the Justice Department’s (DOJ) Public Integrity Unit, Jack Smith.
In his threads on X, Menendez invoked President Donald Trump, saying he understood the president’s concerns about “weaponizing” the DOJ.
Menendez had been a politician for decades, representing New Jersey in the Senate since 2006. He previously served 13 years in the House of Representatives. He also served in the New Jersey State Legislature and as a mayor.