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A federal appeals court on Wednesday denied former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)’s last-ditch bid to avoid reporting to prison while he appeals his corruption conviction.
In a terse order that offered no reasoning, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled 2-1 against Menendez. Judge Alison Nathan, an appointee of former President Biden, would have ruled in the New Jersey Democrat’s favor.
The decision lays the groundwork for Menendez to take his ask to the Supreme Court. But the clock is ticking, as he’s set to report to prison on Tuesday to begin his 11-year sentence for trading bribes for political favors and other crimes.
Menendez was convicted last year on 16 corruption charges, including accepting luxurious bribes with his wife, Nadine Menendez, from three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for his political clout and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt.
It made him the first public official ever convicted of acting as a foreign agent while in office.
Nadine Menendez was convicted on all counts she faced in April and is set to be sentenced on Sept. 11. She was accused of teaming up with her husband to accept the bribes, which included hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and luxury cars, and conspiring to turn him into a foreign agent of Egypt.
She was initially set to be tried alongside her husband, but her trial was delayed following her breast cancer diagnosis and surgery.
Two of the businessmen were also convicted at trial and reported to prison last month. The third pleaded guilty before facing a jury.
A federal judge in April denied Menendez’s request for release and he took the ask to the federal appeals court last month.
Meanwhile, Menendez’s allies have reportedly made overtures to the White House for a pardon from President Trump, who has not openly ruled out clemency for the ex-senator.
The former New Jersey Democrat himself has also publicly sought to land on the president’s good side. After his sentencing, he exclaimed that “President Trump was right,” deeming his own prosecution “political” and “corrupted to the core” while suggesting that Trump’s was, as well.
Earlier Wednesday, he made a winding post on X about “how weaponization works, alleging similarities between his prosecution and the president’s.
The Hill requested comment from Menendez’s lawyer.
