Sources: Menendez negotiates pardon and prison sentence

Disgraced Democratic Senator Robert Menendez is scheduled to resign from office on Tuesday and is currently negotiating a pardon from Joe Biden before the president leaves office at the end of the year, political analysts and longtime aides to the New Jersey congressman say.

Menendez was found guilty last month on 16 counts of bribery and corruption for accepting cash and gold in exchange for using his powerful position to enrich and protect three businessmen and the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

“He's probably trying to get a pardon or a reduction in his sentence,” said a New Jersey political official who asked not to be identified.

“Bob Menendez doesn't do anything without getting something in return, and at this point I would think he would want to get out of the way to spare his children the embarrassment and maybe even help his wife.”

When the verdict is announced in October, Menendez could face more than 200 years in prison.

Menendez ran as an independent in November's election but withdrew from the race last week, paving the way for Democratic frontrunner Andy Kim to take his old seat.

Sources said the dropout was likely Menendez's last bargaining chip. If he had stayed in the race, Democrats feared he could split the vote, leading to a victory for Republican candidate Curtis Bashaw.

His wife, Nadine Arslanian, also faces corruption and bribery charges, but her trial has been postponed indefinitely because she is undergoing breast cancer treatment.

After Menendez submitted his resignation, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy appointed his former chief of staff, George Helmy, to temporarily fill the vacant post beginning in September.

“Bob Menendez's last-ditch effort to secure a pardon by withdrawing from a race he never should have entered and resigning at the last minute is unlikely to be enough to get him out of prison,” said Thomas Anderson, director of Last Government Watchdog, a transparency and accountability organization.

Rob Menendez, the senator's son, recently won the Democratic primary in his New Jersey district and is now running for his seat in Congress, seemingly unaffected by his father's legal troubles. Menendez's daughter, Alicia Menendez, is a broadcast journalist for MSNBC.

Despite Menendez's conviction, he and Arslanian were regularly spotted dining at their favorite neighborhood restaurant.

“They were at Grissini and looked like they had no cares in the world,” a former friend said of an Italian restaurant in Englewood Cliffs, where the couple lives.

The Post had previously reported that changing his party affiliation from Democrats to Independents was a form of insurance for Menendez.

His conviction could also result in him losing his health insurance and pension rights under the Stock Act, which punishes MPs convicted of corruption by stripping them of their pension rights.

The 70-year-old congressman receives an annual Senate salary of $174,000 and, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel, as a congressman with more than 30 years of government service, would be entitled to a pension of nearly $140,000 a year, plus lifetime health insurance for himself and his wife.

Last month, he announced in a letter to the Senate that he would resign on August 20, a date that coincides with payday for Senate staff and senators.

Menendez was convicted in July after a nearly three-month trial in federal court in Manhattan. He was found guilty of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and a Mercedes convertible in exchange for favors.

Menendez, whose sentence is scheduled for October 29, said he would appeal the ruling.

“That's not how he wanted to tell the story,” said political analyst Hank Sheinkopf. “He's hoping for a pardon, but that's not going to happen now because that would only allow Republicans to use him as a poster child for corruption in the Democratic Party.”

“If it were to happen, it would happen after the November 5 election.”

A lawyer representing Menendez during his trial did not respond to The Post's request for comment Monday.

Menendez's strategy in court was essentially to blame his wife for introducing him to New Jersey businessmen who were asking for official favors.

“I am deeply disappointed in the jury's decision. I firmly believe that this decision does not conform to the law or the facts and that we will prevail on appeal,” Menendez said in court last month, while insisting that “I have never violated my public oath.”