After nine weeks and over 1,000,000 words of lawyer speak and testimony in a courtroom, a jury has finally started deliberating on the fate of disgraced Democratic Senator Bob Menendez.

After one day of deliberation, the jury has not yet reached a decision in the case.

Just because an immediate conviction didn't happen does NOT mean that it can't eventually happen. Many people in America feel that there's OVERWHELMING evidence against Senator Bob Menendez.

A federal investigation

The charges against Bob Menendez were not simply slapped on him willy-nilly, they were the result of a highly sophisticated investigation by federal agencies that lasted literally years. According to NBC, Menendez was charged with "bribery, wire fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. His wife and two businessmen were also charged in the case and have pleaded not guilty."

Over the course of nine weeks in a courtroom, all of the gritty details came out. The New Jersey Democrat and his wife are accused of accepting "cash and a Mercedes-Benz convertible from three businessmen from 2018 to 2023 in exchange for Menendez carrying out a variety of corrupt acts." Prosecutors are saying that some of the gifts were a result of Menendez taking action for the benefit of the Egyptian government.

Menendez and his lawyers are telling a different story though. They're arguing "that the senator did nothing wrong in his dealings with the businessmen and that nearly $150,000 in gold bars and over $480,000 in cash found at the couple’s Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home in a 2022 FBI raid were not bribe proceeds."

Bob Menendez is (was?) a powerful man

Throughout the course of his 50-year career, Bob Menendez has had tremendous influence at the local level, the state level, the federal level, AND on a worldwide stage.

It's safe to say that somebody with this much power needs to face some series of checks and balances. That type of authority could go to anybody's head, and Menendez apparently forgot he wasn't above the law just because he serves in America's government.

Menendez and his co-defendants are probably hoping for the same result as Menendez's 2017 trial, which was dismissed as a result of a hung jury.

Deliberations began on July 13.

The same day that Donald J. Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania, the jury in Menendez's case retreated to deliberate. No verdict has been reached as of the time of writing, and the jury has left for the weekend.

When asked what he thought the jury might decide, Menendez said "I have faith in God and in the jury."

Before the jury was sent away to deliberate, U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein spent about four hours giving the jurors instructions. Some of the jury instructions were based on recent Supreme Court rulings that may result in this case being decided differently than it would have in the past.

What do you think about this story? Will Menendez be proven to be one of the most corrupt politicians in American history?

Or will the jury eventually decide that this was a MASSIVE waste of taxpayer dollars and government resources? We'll have the answer soon enough, but for now, all we can do is wait!

Let's make our voices heard at the ballot box this fall and make sure to weed out the politicians like Menendez before they can do even more damage to our beloved nation!