‘WITCH HUNT’

‘Gold Bar Bob’ Menendez Throws His Lot in With Trump While Facing 11 Years

The former Democratic senator from New Jersey praised President Donald Trump for his repeated attacks on the Justice Department.

Just after receiving a hefty prison sentence, former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) called the prosecution against him a “political witch hunt,” before praising President Donald Trump as “right” to attack the Justice Department as politically biased.

Judge Sidney H. Stein sentenced the veteran Democratic legislator, who was convicted of corruption charges, to 11 years in prison on Wednesday.

However, Stein allowed Menendez to walk out of the Manhattan courthouse on Wednesday, with instructions to report to the Bureau of Prisons in June—after his wife’s long-delayed trial for related corruption charges.

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“I am innocent and look forward to filing appeals on a whole host of issues,” Menendez told reporters outside the courthouse. “Let me just say this: This whole process has been nothing but a political witch hunt.”

Menendez accused federal prosecutors of using illegal evidence and testimony from an FBI agent he says was “caught lying on the stand,” but did not elaborate further. He also accused former U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, whose office prosecuted the case, of trying to collect “political scalps” before running for office.

Williams, who was appointed by Biden in 2021, stepped down as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York in December, just ahead of Trump’s inauguration.

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By the end of his remarks, which were later published on social media, Menendez appealed to Trump by name. “President Trump was right,” the disgraced former senator said. “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.”

Menendez was the former mayor of Union City, New Jersey, and a three-term senator from the Garden State. He chaired the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations until his federal indictment in 2023. Despite the salacious charges, including accepting bribes in the form of gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz convertible, Menendez resisted calls from within his own party to resign until he was found guilty in 2024.

Menendez is not the only Democratic leader changing his tune after facing federal charges. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the first mayor in the city’s history to face a federal indictment while in office, has long dismissed the charges against him as “entirely false, based on lies.”

Just this month, Adams has met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and attended his inauguration last week.

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Zachary FolkFreelance Reporter

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