XPost: nj.politics, alt.politics.republicans, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5498695-ex-senator-wife-   
   prison/   
      
   The wife of ex-Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) was on Thursday sentenced to   
   more than four years in prison for her role in a scheme to trade her   
   husband’s political power for lavish bribes.   
      
   Nadine Menendez, 58, was convicted in April of plotting with her husband,   
   the former chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to   
   exchange his clout for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars   
   and a Mercedes-Benz.   
      
   Prosecutors said last month she played a “critical role” in the plot,   
   selling his influence not “reluctantly, fleetingly, or on a small scale,”   
   but “eagerly.”   
      
   But the 54-month sentence falls short of the 7-year prison term the   
   government asked a judge to impose.   
      
   U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein granted leniency in part because of the   
   trial she endured, her childhood in warworn Lebanon, a history of abusive   
   romantic partners, her health conditions and her age, according to the   
   Associated Press. At the same time, Stein emphasized it was important the   
   sentence be tough enough to deter similar crimes.   
      
   “People have to understand there are consequences,” the judge said.   
      
   The government wrote in court filings last month that it sees Nadine   
   Menendez as the “second most culpable member of the scheme.”   
      
   “Second only to Menendez,” prosecutors wrote.   
      
   Bob Menendez, 71, is serving his 11-year sentence at a Pennsylvania   
   federal prison. He was convicted on all counts last year, including for   
   acting as an agent of the Egyptian government, making him the first public   
   official ever convicted of acting as a foreign agent while in office.   
      
   Before Nadine Menendez’s sentence was handed down, she said through tears   
   that she believed she was duped by her husband’s power and stature,   
   compelled to do as he asked, such as calling or meeting with certain   
   people.   
      
   She portrayed Bob Menendez as a manipulator, contending he is “not the man   
   I thought he was.”   
      
   “I would never have imagined someone of his ranking putting me in this   
   position,” she said, according to the Associated Press, though   
   acknowledging that she should have known better.   
      
   During Bob Menendez’s trial, his attorneys at times sought to pin the   
   blame on Nadine Menendez, suggesting she hid her dealings with the other   
   defendants, three New Jersey businessmen, from him. He wrote in a letter   
   to the court ahead of her sentencing that it was “simply wrong” to suggest   
   his wife was money hungry and would solicit others’ help.   
      
   The two New Jersey businessmen who bribed the Menendezes are also serving   
   time. A third businessman pleaded guilty before facing trial and has not   
   yet been sentenced.   
      
   Nadine Menendez was initially set to stand trial alongside her husband and   
   the two businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, but a judge severed her   
   case from the others after she told the court of her breast cancer.   
      
   She asked the court last month for a prison term of just one year and one   
   day, claiming an extended sentence would “obliterate any possibility” of   
   receiving the treatment necessary to battle her cancer.   
      
   In an 11th-hour court filing Wednesday, Nadine Menendez’s lawyers   
   submitted a letter from her plastic surgeon explaining that she   
   experienced complications with a prior surgery and would need additional   
   procedures to “alleviate her debilitating and unremitting pain.” The first   
   procedure alone would take several months for recovery, the doctor, whose   
   name was redacted, said.   
      
   The government previously said that, if not for her “history of health   
   conditions and unique personal circumstances,” it would have sought an   
   even higher sentence to avoid a discrepancy between the defendants.   
      
   At the defense’s request, Stein ordered Nadine Menendez to surrender to   
   prison next summer, on July 10, so that she can undergo any necessary   
   medical procedures before her time behind bars begins. Prosecutors did not   
   object.   
      
   Updated at 12:57 p.m. EDT   
      
      
   --   
   November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look   
   forward to America being great again.   
      
   We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that   
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   Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama   
   / Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.   
      
   Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the   
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   queer liberal democrat donors.   
      
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