President Donald Trump has not ruled out pardoning or commuting the sentence of former Sen. Bob Menendez, though allies believe there is only a small chance that the New Jersey Democrat will receive clemency before he’s scheduled to report to prison next month, according to a White House official and three additional people familiar with the discussions.
Menendez allies have made multiple overtures to the White House since Trump took office to request either a pardon or a commutation of his 11-year prison sentence following his conviction on bribery and corruption charges, according to four people familiar with the efforts.
After one such overture, some of Menendez’s allies were convinced Trump will not grant the New Jersey Democrat clemency, people familiar with the efforts said. But a White House official says Trump has not made a decision on the matter.
Earlier this year, Menendez appealed to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a former Senate colleague and a Trump ally, to request a pardon or sentence commutation on his behalf, according to three people with direct knowledge of that effort. Graham and Menendez have long had a close relationship, with Graham standing by the Democrat during Menendez's first indictment a decade ago on federal corruption charges. But Graham has declined to get involved.
Menendez has also tried to use his longtime connections to Jewish leaders in New York and New Jersey as a different avenue to get to Trump, according to two people familiar with those discussions. Menendez was a fierce advocate for Israel during his time in office and has attempted to leverage his ties to prominent Jewish groups and key stakeholders, as NBC News previously reported.
Menendez had also reached out to the family of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner for help securing a pardon, but he was rebuffed, according to one source familiar with the attempt.
Menendez sought and failed to obtain clemency from President Joe Biden before he left office earlier this year.
Menendez pleaded not guilty on federal bribery and corruption charges but was convicted in July and resigned from the Senate in August. Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez, was convicted on similar charges in a separate trial.
In attempt to appeal to Trump, Menendez has argued that he was politically targeted by the Justice Department. In a Friday post on X, Menendez accused Democrats of “weaponizing the Justice Dept.” against him when he was first indicted in 2015. The Justice Department ultimately dropped that case in 2018.
“When, as the Chairman of the [Senate Foreign Relations Committee], I didn’t go along with Obama’s Iran deal, I was indicted, and the next day after being stripped of my position, Obama announced the Iran deal,” Menendez wrote.
Despite his appeals to Trump, Menendez does not have a close relationship with the president and has been an adversary at key moments. Menendez joined all Senate Democrats in voting to convict Trump during his two impeachment trials, for instance — an act a person close to Trump previously told NBC News would weigh against him.
