Brian Ler on WNYC, now to the news of New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez's conviction on corruption charges.

A jury needed just two full days of deliberation to find the senator

guilty on all 16 counts of bribery, obstruction of justice, and acting as a foreign agent.

The trial revealed a web of corruption involving Menendez, his wife, Nadine, and several

businessmen who sought political favors, and the verdict is historic, making Menendez

the first sitting senator convicted of acting as an agent of a foreign government. Despite

Mountain calls for his resignation now, Menendez remains defiant and has already vowed to appeal

this guilty verdict. He's also, at least as of now, running for his seat as an independent.

He did not get the Democratic nomination. Our Nancy Solomon is here to help us unpack the

conviction and its impact on New Jersey as well as national politics. Hi, Nancy. Hi, Brian.

And listeners, we will have time for calls on this, your questions about, and reactions to Senator Bob Menendez's conviction. Welcome here for Nancy Solomon, 212, 433, WNYC, 212, 963, 9692. Guilty on all counts. I named the big categories briefly there. Anything you want to say more

specifically, maybe especially about the historic charge of acting as an agent for a foreign government,

which no U.S. Senator has ever been convicted of before? Yeah, Brian. I mean, that was probably the strongest part of

the government's case against him. You know, he, so he starts dating Nadine Arslanian in 2018,

right after his hung jury escape from bribery conviction in 20,

late in the year in 2017 in the fall.

And then in 2018, he starts dating Nadine,

and she introduces him to an Egyptian-born New Jersey businessman

while Hannah.

And Hannah is connected to another businessman who Menendez

already has a relationship with, a real estate developer, Fred Davies.

And they quickly, and when I say they, I mean Nadine and Wael introduce the senator to

...