Convicted felon and former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez fought again tears whereas describing his legacy as one in all “breaking down boundaries,” denying that it entailed breaking legal guidelines as effectively.
Regardless of his 16-count conviction final month for buying and selling the ability of his workplace for profitable bribes, an emotional Menendez claimed he’ll depart behind a “good legacy.”
“My legacy is one in all breaking down boundaries,” Menendez advised Spanish-American language broadcaster Noticias Univision, per a translation.
“A legacy is planting seeds to create a tree the place you gained’t sit underneath it. That’s a legacy. And in that sense, we now have sown and planted so many seeds, which I do know is an effective legacy.”
Final week, Menendez (D-NJ) formally tendered his resignation from the Senate — seemingly timed so he might land one final paycheck from the taxpayers — and filed an enchantment on his conviction.
Talking in Spanish, Menendez refused to provide even the slightest trace of regret, emphatic that he was the sufferer as he stares down the specter of as much as 222 years behind bars with sentencing slated for Oct. 29.
To these nonetheless backing him, Menendez urged them to attend for his enchantment to play out, one thing he harassed he would take all the best way to the Supreme Court docket if mandatory.
“You’re going to see that there was an injustice and a authorized mistaken,” he stated in an emotional, defiant tone.
“If you end up harmless, you discover it troublesome. And when you recognize as I do know that many occasions my voice was the one voice that was raised,” he later added. “I do know that not having that voice on behalf of our group is a loss.”
Underlying his conviction had been fees that he used his energy and affect to intervene in US authorities actions to profit three businessmen in addition to the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
On the couple’s Englewood Cliffs dwelling, authorities uncovered $486,471 in money, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, 13 1-kilogram gold bars and extra as proof of the obvious bribes.
At one level, his attorneys seemingly threw Menendez’s “stunning, tall” spouse, Nadine, underneath the bus, claiming she had “stored him at the hours of darkness” about her machinations with their enterprise friends. She is staring down an analogous indictment, however the trial will happen at a later date attributable to her most cancers analysis.
Through the time interval in query, Menendez held a strong perch on the Senate Overseas Relations Committee however stepped down as chair final yr within the wake of the bribery indictment.
Following his conviction, Menendez was out of allies within the US Senate. Nearly the entire Senate Democratic caucus in addition to prime New Jersey Democrats demanded he resign, together with Majority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
The three-term Democrat’s post-conviction interview illustrates his penchant for leaning on id politics as a cudgel amid his authorized predicament.
Because the son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez turned the primary Latino to chair the Senate Overseas Relations Committee. He cited his ethnicity when the indictment was first handed down final September.
“These behind this marketing campaign merely can’t settle for {that a} first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings might rise to be a US Senator,” Menendez stated on the time.
Menendez had filed paperwork to vie for the seat he held since 2006 once more this election cycle as an Impartial after it was clear he couldn’t win the Democratic main towards Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ). He has since withdrawn.
He beforehand survived bribery fees on an unrelated matter in 2017 attributable to a hung jury.
The Backyard State Democrat insists he’s additionally discovering solace in God.
“If he took Daniel out of the lion’s den, if he break up the Pink Sea for Moses, if he gave Sara a baby — all the pieces is feasible with him,” he stated.
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