Bob Menendez invokes Trump in casting sentencing as 'political prosecution'

Former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) decried his corruption case as a “political prosecution" and invoked President Trump's legal battles as proof of a crooked justice system after he was sentenced to 11 years in prison 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 of trading bribes for political favors last year. He resigned from the Senate soon after, though his downfall began earlier when he was forced to surrender his powerful post as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the charges against him were revealed.

A New York jury found the ex-senator accepted lavish bribes from three businessmen and served as an agent of Egypt in exchange for his political clout. Menendez is the first-ever public official convicted of acting as a foreign agent while in office.

“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 as Trump’s Justice Department has moved to end criminal prosecutions of his political allies, including a former Republican lawmaker; those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack; and Trump’s co-defendants in his federal classified documents case.

The ex-senator declined to answer questions from reporters about whether he is seeking a pardon from Trump, who faced his own legal troubles in Manhattan. The president has not commented on Menendez's case and whether clemency might be in the cards.

Last year, Trump was convicted in New York state court of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment made to an adult film actress to keep quiet about their alleged affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

The two politicians, from opposing parties, were on trial at the same time.

Trump was sentenced earlier this month to an unconditional discharge, eschewing jail time while securing his status as the first person found guilty of a felony to assume the presidency. He appealed his conviction Wednesday.

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