On Tuesday, July 16, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was convicted of all the counts he faced at his corruption trial, including accepting bribes, acting as a foreign agent and obstructing justice. 

This verdict comes after a nine-week long trial in Manhattan which investigated the allegation that Menendez and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, which included cash, gold bars and a luxury vehicle, in exchange for helping foreign governments. Menendez was charged with 18 counts, all related to an alleged bribery scheme with the Egyptian and Qatari governments, and pleaded not guilty to federal charges. 

Menendez did not testify, but publicly insisted that the hundreds of dollars in cash found in his home by the FBI were obtained legally, that the gold bars belonged to his wife, and that he was only doing his job as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

Menendez’s co-defendants, two New Jersey businessmen, were also convicted of the charges they faced and pleaded not guilty. A third businessman pleaded guilty before the trial. Menendez’s wife, Nadine, was charged as well, but her trial has been postponed while she recovers from breast cancer surgery. 

Menendez intends to run for reelection this year as an independent. With just four months left ahead of elections, this trial leaves voters questioning his potential candidacy.