WASHINGTON—Today, after deliberating for two days, a jury found New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez guilty of all 16 counts in a federal corruption trial, including bribery, obstruction of justice, and acting as a foreign agent. The senator was accused of accepting gifts in exchange for official favors to Egypt and Qatar. The gifts, from New Jersey businessmen, include cash, gold bars, luxury watches, car payments to his wife, and more.

The senator is the first sitting member of Congress to be charged with conspiracy by a public official to act as a foreign agent. He continues to sit on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, charged with shaping the country’s international policy and affairs.  

Statement of Common Cause President and CEO Virginia Kase Solomón 

“When we choose our elected leaders, we place a high level of trust in them to represent our interests and protect our freedoms. After a guilty verdict from a jury of his peers who heard all the facts of the case, Senator Menendez has broken the trust of New Jersey voters.  

When we see our leaders sell their influence, we lose faith that democracy is worth participating and believing in. That’s why Common Cause has long advocated for an independent ethics office, rather than relying on senators to referee themselves, especially in an election year.  

It is foundational to our representative democracy that our leaders in Washington put their own personal interests aside in favor of the public interest.  

Rather than serve the voters, Senator Menendez sold them out for his own personal profit. He must resign.” 

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