Former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) filed an appeal Thursday against his conviction and 11-year sentence for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and luxury cars in exchange for political favors.
The punishment issued in January made Menendez the first public official ever convicted of acting as a foreign agent while in office.
Menendez said the case was corrupt and that he was targeted by prosecutors.
“President Trump was right,” Menendez said outside the New York federal courthouse on Jan. 29.
“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 chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the fall of 2023 where he was charged with overseeing U.S. policy regulations abroad.
“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 resigned following pressure from then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). The seat is now held by Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.).
