Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on July 16 was convicted of all 16 counts in a corruption trial, including bribery and acting as a foreign agent of the Egyptian government.
Mr. Menendez, speaking to reporters outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan, said he was “deeply, deeply disappointed” by the verdict and confirmed he will appeal the conviction.
The jury’s verdict was made after a nine-week trial in which prosecutors accused the former chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of abusing his position to shield associates from investigations and enrich others, including his wife, Nadine Menendez.
Prosecutors accused the senator and his wife of taking more than $400,000 in cash, gold bars, and a car in bribes from three New Jersey businessmen.
Two of the New Jersey businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, who were tried alongside Mr. Menendez were also convicted.
The third businessman pleaded guilty before the trial.
Defense lawyers argued that the gold belonged to Ms. Menendez and she had kept him in the dark about financial troubles so grim that she nearly lost the home to foreclosure.
They said the cash stemmed from the senator’s habitual hoarding of cash at home after hearing how his parents escaped Cuba in 1951 with only the money they had hidden in a grandfather clock.
Ms. Menendez, who was also charged, has pleaded not guilty. Her trial has been indefinitely postponed as she recovers from breast cancer surgery.
The New Jersey senator did not testify at the trial but said publicly he was only doing his job as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Following the verdict, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on Mr. Menendez to step down.
Expulsion would require the support of two-thirds of the Senate.
Were Mr. Menendez to leave the Senate, Mr. Murphy would appoint his successor.
Following the verdict, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damien Williams said Mr. Menendez’s case was not one of politics as usual, but rather “politics for profit.”
Mr. Menendez was last on trial for federal corruption charges in 2015 but his case ended in a mistrial and prosecutors declined to try it again.
Mr. Menendez, who has been in the Senate since 2006 and in Congress since 1993, is running for re-election as an independent.
Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) is the Democrat nominee for the Senate, while hotel entrepreneur Curtis Bashaw is the Republican candidate.
Mr. Kim decided to run for the Senate following the indictment news, citing Mr. Menendez’s refusal to resign.
The senator is due to be sentenced on Oct. 29.
He faces up to 20 years in prison.
