“My legacy is to break down barriers”

Convicted felon and former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez fought back tears as he described his legacy as “breaking down barriers” and denied that it included breaking laws.

Despite his conviction last month on 16 counts of abusing his official power to take lucrative bribes, an emotional Menendez claimed he would leave a “good legacy.”

“My legacy is to break down barriers,” Menendez told the Spanish-American broadcaster Noticias Univision, according to a translation.

“A legacy is planting seeds to create a tree that you don't sit under. That is a legacy. And in that sense, we have sown and planted so many seeds, and I know that is a good legacy.”

Last week, Menendez (D-N.J.) officially resigned from the Senate – apparently timed to allow him to collect one last paycheck from taxpayers – and appealed his conviction.

Menendez, speaking in Spanish, showed no sign of remorse and insisted he was the victim as he faces up to 222 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for October 29.

Menendez urged his supporters to wait for the outcome of his appeal, stressing that he would go all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

“You will see that it was an injustice and a violation of the law,” he said in an emotional, defiant tone.

“It's hard when you're innocent. And when you know that my voice was often the only one raised, like mine,” he later added. “I know it's a loss to no longer have that voice on behalf of our community.”

He was convicted on charges that he abused his power and influence to interfere in US government activities and benefit three businessmen and the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

At the couple's Englewood Cliffs home, authorities discovered $486,471 in cash, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, thirteen one-kilogram gold bars and more as evidence of the alleged bribes.

At one point, his lawyers apparently smacked Menendez's “beautiful, tall” wife, Nadine, claiming she had kept him “in the dark” about her dealings with her business partners. She faces a similar charge, but the trial will be held at a later date because of her cancer diagnosis.

During the period in question, Menendez held an influential position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but resigned as chairman last year after the bribery charges became known.

After his conviction, Menendez no longer had any allies in the US Senate. Almost the entire Democratic Senate caucus and leading Democrats from New Jersey called for his resignation, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

The three-term Democrat's interview after his conviction highlights his penchant for relying on identity politics in his predicament and using it as a tool of struggle.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez became the first Latino to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and cited his ethnicity when he was first impeached last September.

“Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings could rise to become a U.S. senator,” Menendez said at the time.

Menendez had filed papers to run again as an independent this election cycle for the seat he has held since 2006 after it became clear he could not win the Democratic primary against Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ). He has since withdrawn his candidacy.

In 2017, he escaped a bribery charge in another case because the jury could not reach a consensus.

The Garden State Democrat insists he also finds comfort in God.

“If he brought Daniel out of the lions' den, if he parted the Red Sea for Moses, if he gave Sarah a child – with him everything is possible,” he said.