BREAKING: Former Democrat senator sentenced to prison in federal corruption case

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From MSNBC: Former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Wednesday, after he was found guilty on all counts in his federal corruption trial last year. Justice Department prosecutors had asked for 15 years, while lawyers for the 71-year-old urged the court to consider a sentence that “relies heavily on alternatives to incarceration.”

Menendez, who resigned following the trial after decades in Democratic politics, has vowed to appeal. Ahead of the sentencing, his lawyers argued to U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein that he should remain free pending that appeal, citing a list of issues they plan on pressing to overturn his conviction. His case could end up at the Supreme Court, which has sided with political corruption defendants in a string of cases in recent years.

A previous, unrelated federal bribery trial against Menendez in 2017 ended in a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict.

NBC News previously reported that Menendez wants a pardon from President Donald Trump after failing to get one from former President Joe Biden.

The Associated Press explained in a separate report that Menendez was sentenced for “accepting bribes of cash and gold bars and serving as an agent of Egypt as he sold influence to businessmen eager to exploit his political power.”

Two other businessmen involved in the scheme, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were also found guilty and sentenced earlier on Wednesday.  Judge Stein sentenced Hana to eight years and Daibes to seven years.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez has a 40-year career in politics, starting in 1986 as the mayor of Union City, New Jersey, then getting elected to the New Jersey General Assembly, and then the New Jersey state senate. In 1993 he moved up to the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 2006 to the U.S. Senate.

Scolding the disgraced Democrat at the sentencing on Wednesday, the judge said, “You were successful, powerful, you stood at the apex of our political system. 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.”

“You really don’t know the man you are about to sentence,” Menendez reportedly told the judge, breaking down into tears. “Your honor, I am far from a perfect man. I have made more than my share of mistakes and bad decisions.  I’ve done far more good than bad. I ask you, your honor, to judge me in that context.”

Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez, who was diagnosed with cancer, faces a separate trial.

Days after he was found guilty in the case, Menendez released the following statement on social media:

Senator Menendez’s statement Re:SDNY PROSECUTORS USING UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND INADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE WITH JURY.

“We respectfully disagree with the Court’s decision and expect the Court of Appeals will hold these prosecutors to account for their misconduct. To think that prosecutors can put unconstitutional and inadmissible evidence in front of the jury, assure the defense they only provided the jury with admitted exhibits, and escape any consequences, is outrageous.

“This is precisely the sort of misconduct by prosecutors that has caused so many to question the motives and judgments of overzealous prosecutors who act above the law and believe they are unanswerable to anyone.”

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