Former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) condemned his corruption case as a “political prosecution” and pointed to President Donald Trump’s legal battles as evidence of a corrupt justice system after being sentenced to 11 years in prison on Wednesday.
“President Trump was right,” Menendez said outside the New York federal courthouse. “This process is political, and it’s corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.”
The New Jersey Democrat was convicted last year of accepting bribes in exchange for political favors. He resigned from the Senate soon after, though his downfall began earlier when he was forced to relinquish his influential position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the public disclosure of the charges against him.
A New York jury found that the former senator accepted extravagant bribes from three businessmen and acted as an agent of Egypt in return for using his political influence. Menendez is the first public official in U.S. history to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent while in office, The Hill reported.
“You were successful, powerful, you stood at the apex of our political system,” U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein said while handing down Menendez’s sentence, according to The Associated Press. ”Somewhere along the way, and I don’t know when it was, you lost your way and working for the public good became working for your good.”
Menendez’s remarks come at a time when Trump’s Justice Department is seeking to halt criminal prosecutions of his political allies. This includes a former Republican lawmaker, individuals involved in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, and Trump’s co-defendants in his federal classified documents case, The Hill continued.
The former senator declined to answer reporters’ questions about whether he is seeking a pardon from President Trump, who has faced his own legal battles in Manhattan. Trump has not commented on Menendez’s case or whether clemency is under consideration.
Last year, Trump was convicted in New York state court on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to an adult film actress ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The two politicians, despite being from opposing parties, faced trials simultaneously.
Earlier this month, Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge, avoiding jail time while becoming the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency. He filed an appeal of his conviction on Wednesday.
In March, shortly after he was indicted, Menendez left some doubt as to whether he was done with politics.
“When I announce, everybody will know what my intentions are, and until then, everybody can continue to speculate,” Menendez told the Washington Examiner at the time. “When I announce, everybody will know.”
His remarks followed an NBC News report indicating that he may be contemplating an independent reelection campaign, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Menendez was embroiled in an extensive corruption investigation probing whether he leveraged his position to benefit himself and his wife. Earlier this year, New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe admitted to bribing the senator’s wife, allegedly in return for his assistance in a state insurance fraud inquiry.
Then, there was speculation that the New Jersey Democrat might consider an independent candidacy to raise funds, potentially to mitigate his increasing legal expenses.
Using campaign funds to cover legal fees is not uncommon; NBC News previously reported that affiliated committees of former President Donald Trump spent nearly $50 million from fundraising revenue on legal expenses last year, the Examiner pointed out.
Federal prosecutors in New York announced in September that they charged Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for their influence.
