Senator Bob Menendez convicted of all charges, including accepting bribes paid in cash, gold and a car

NEW YORK (AP) — United States Senator Bob Menendez was convicted on Tuesday of all the counts he faced at his corruption trial, including accepting bribes of gold and cash from three New Jersey businessmen and acting as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government.

The jury's verdict followed a nine-week trial in which prosecutors said the Democrat abused the power of his office to protect allies from criminal investigations and enrich associates, including his wife, through acts that included meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials and helping that country access millions of dollars in US military aid.

As the verdict was read in court, Menendez, 70, looked toward the jury at times as he appeared to mark a document in front of him. Afterward, he sat resting his chin against his closed hands, elbows on the table. He and his lawyers vowed to appeal as they left the courthouse.

“I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent,” Menendez said.

Menendez did not testify at the trial, but insisted publicly he was only doing his job as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said the gold bars found in his New Jersey home by the FBI belonged to his wife, Nadine Menendez. She too was charged but her trial was postponed so she could recover from breast cancer surgery. She has pleaded not guilty.

“This case has always been about shocking levels of corruption, hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, a Mercedes Benz. This wasn't politics as usual, this was politics for profit. And now that a jury has convicted Bob Menendez, his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end,” said US Attorney Damian Williams outside the courthouse in Manhattan.

The verdict comes four months before Election Day and potentially dooms Menendez's chances of campaigning for reelection as an independent candidate.

Menendez faces the possibility of a lengthy prison term when he is sentenced on October 29. Of the 16 counts on which he was convicted, the most serious carry a potential prison sentence of 20 years.

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