SENATOR SENTENCED: Robert Menendez Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison

Robert Menendez, the former senator from New Jersey whose reputation once made him a formidable figure in Washington, was sentenced this afternoon to 11 years in prison after being found guilty of orchestrating a daring, years-long international bribery operation.

The courtroom in Lower Manhattan was filled but quiet as the judge handed down one of the longest prison sentences ever given to a federal official in the U.S.

“You were successful, powerful,” said Judge Sidney H. Stein of the Federal District Court before revealing the sentence. “You stood at the apex of our political system.”

“Somewhere along the way — I don’t know where it was — you lost your way,” he continued. “Working for the public good became working for your good.”

Mr. Menendez, known for his eloquent speeches on the Senate floor, sobbed intermittently as he spoke to the court prior to the sentence. He has expressed his intention to challenge the jury’s guilty verdict, but told Judge Stein that he stood before him as a “chastened man” who had faced the shame of being convicted and forced to resign from his Senate seat.

“Every day I’m awake is a punishment,” Mr. Menendez, 71, said. “I ask you to temper your sword of justice with the mercy of a lifetime of duty,” he added.

His sister and both children—Alicia Menendez, an MSNBC anchor, and Representative Rob Menendez, a Democrat serving his second term in Congress—were seated directly behind him, in the first row of a courtroom packed with observers.

The downfall of Mr. Menendez has been swift and severe. He stepped down from his Senate position in August after a Manhattan jury convicted him of trading his political influence for cash, gold, and luxury goods, including a Mercedes-Benz convertible. At the time of his indictment 16 months ago, Mr. Menendez was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, one of the most influential roles in Washington. This position granted him significant sway over foreign military assistance and global policy. During the nine-week trial last summer, prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York detailed numerous ways in which Mr. Menendez abused that power.

Prosecutor Paul Monteleoni argued that a lengthy sentence was appropriate for crimes that represented a “truly grave breach of trust.”

“He let his offenses overshadow the good that he did,” Monteleoni said. “He believed that the power that he wielded belonged to him,” he continued. “The power of a Senate office is not something he owns and has the power to liquidate.”

Mr. Menendez was convicted in July on all 16 charges, including bribery, extortion, honest services wire fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and acting as an agent for Egypt. When the jury delivered its verdict, Mr. Menendez, the son of Cuban immigrants, became the first U.S. senator ever convicted of acting as an agent of a foreign power.

{Matzav.com}