guilty on all counts That verdict from a jury in Manhattan court today in the federal bribery and corruption trial of Naen Mendez wife of convicted former US Senator Bob Mendez The charges stemming from her role as a partner in crime in her and her husband's yearslong scheme to sell his political power for gold bars cash and other bribes Senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan is outside the Manhattan Federal Courthouse with the details Brenda Briana it took that jury about seven and a half hours before they came back with guilty verdicts all 15 counts including bribery conspiracy extortion fraud and obstruction of justice Mrs Mendez's reaction she stood there very quietly in the court wearing her pink mask as the jury foreman delivered that verdict Later outside her defense attorney didn't let her speak However he said quote "We are devastated that this has been a very rough day but that it's not the end They are going to look into delaying sentencing."

He would not comment on the concept of an appeal at this point Now obviously uh this verdict matches uh her husband's former and disgraced Senator Bob Mendez who was also found guilty on all counts Now jurors obviously believe the prosecutors in this case they moved with pretty much the same uh body of evidence in both trials and they call the couple partners in crime That they put his power and influence up for sale That Naen Mendez was the gobetween demanding payment conveying messages and collecting bribes And that she did the dirty work that the senator didn't want to get caught doing Briana Bren what does it say about the defense this was a trial that was expected to go until miday Uh here we are about 3 weeks after the jury was selected with a bunch of uh delays days long delays What type of defense did they put up well I mean it's very interesting when you think about the fact that Bob Menendez's defense argued that Naen concealed this whole criminal enterprise and essentially kept him in the dark Her defense said "No this is uh a a prosecution that has failed to make its case that it didn't prove her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt Their key witness uh had uncorroborated evidence Obviously the jury was not convinced The defense attorney didn't do a lot of cross-examination I think they presented only three witnesses."

Brie now in terms of sentencing this is going to be June 12th Naen was originally supposed to stand trial with her husband but treatment for breast cancer delayed that As we know she faces possibly a significant sentence Her husband was sentenced to 11 years but remember he was an elected official right uh 11 years uh which will happen just before she's sentenced Where was Bob Mendez uh or the Mendez family were they present at all for this trial or today well his older sister Karedad Gonzalez was in court However where was Bob he was not in court which is interesting given the fact that the judge granted him an extension on reporting for prison He doesn't have to show up until June 6th but he hasn't been in the courtroom with her And reporters asked Barry Coburn "Where is Bob Mendez why wasn't he here supporting his wife?"

And Barry Coburn said that he had no comment on that Briana Brenda this is remarkable for a number of reasons but of course because the couple had pleaded not guilty and had said that um one side said she was the mastermind the other said uh the two were partners Um what do you take from this because it has been tough to convict federal officials like a sitting US senator but um they certainly um went down hard here I think that the judge made it very clear to the jury that you don't have to actually act make an official act in order for it to be considered bribery That a promise is good enough And I think that the prosecution here had a very solid case of corroborating evidence They had emails they had text messages they had recordings of phone calls They were able to connect dots between when promises were made phone calls for more information uh were made They brought in the attorney general of New Jersey They brought in the acting former acting US attorney for New Jersey and asked them about Mendez He never directly asked them to do something He never directly made any promises And yet they were able to put together a narrative to convince the jury that something very wrong had happened Briana Brenda Flanigan for a senior correspondent outside the Manhattan federal uh courthouse where she's been covering this case uh since the start Brenda great work Thanks so much Thank you Bri [Music]