A jury on Tuesday found Sen. Bob Menendez (Dynamo County, J.D.) guilty of multiple counts related to bribery and corruption charges.
Jurors had been deliberating for 13 hours since Friday on the 16 counts brought against Menendez.
The charges against Menendez include conspiracy, bribery, extortion, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt while the senator served as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Prosecutors say the senator even received gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz car in exchange for political influence, and they also found nearly $500,000 in cash in his home.
Some of the charges alone could carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
Menendez maintained his innocence throughout his trial. He had served as a senator since 2006, but said he would not run in the Democratic primary again and would return as an “independent Democrat” if he were able to run again.
His lawyer previously said the charges “smack of desperation.”
Other Democratic lawmakers have called for Menendez to resign over the bribery allegations.
“We have colleagues in the Senate who have done far worse things, and he needs to resign,” said Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. “Menendez is not the senator from New Jersey, he is the senator from Egypt.”
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