Former New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was criticized for ‘shopping for a pardon’ from Donald Trump after a series of posts on social media.
Menendez was convicted in July on federal bribery and corruption charges. Prosecutors say that he accepted bribes — including cash and gold bars — to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He resigned from the Senate in August.
His wife, Nadine Menendez, was convicted on similar charges in a separate trial.
Menendez took to X on Friday to appeal to Trump for a pardon, arguing that he was politically targeted by the Justice Department. He also accused Democrats of “weaponizing the Justice Dept.” against him when he was first indicted in 2015.
“Obama told me that he could not have the Democratic Chairman of the [Senate Foreign Relations Committee] be against him,” Menendez wrote. “By having me removed as the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama removed my major opposition to his Iran deal. It was a bad deal for the U.S. and for our ally, Israel.”
“This was the ultimate weaponization of the Justice Dept. for a political purpose,” the ex-senator wrote, adding “when Democrats talk about weaponizing the Justice Dept, they should look into their own past actions.”
“Obama was willing to use the Justice Department to pursue and preserve the legacy issue he felt would earn him the Nobel Prize he had received,” Menendez added.
The ex-senator was slammed for the post which is seen as a blatant attempt to secure a pardon from Trump before he is scheduled to report to prison next month.
