Will he have to resign? How much time will he spend in prison? What will happen next?

A federal jury on Tuesday found U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez guilty of bribery and corruption, finding that the New Jersey Democrat spent years selling the powers of his office to foreign governments and three New Jersey businessmen who sought his support with their personal and professional struggles.

The ruling made the three-term former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the first senator to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent.

However, he continued to maintain his innocence and announced he would appeal.

“I have never violated my public oath,” he told reporters outside the Manhattan federal courthouse where his trial had been held for the previous nine weeks. “I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.”

What happens next as Menendez, 70, faces the prospect of losing his job and freedom?

What was the jury’s verdict?

A jury found Menendez guilty of all 16 counts he faced, including conspiracy, bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent. Prosecutors accused him and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, of accepting bribes in the form of cash, gold bars and even a luxury car over a period of several years.

” READ MORE: From gold bars to expensive cars: all the bribes Senator Bob Menendez has been accused of over the years

The commission also convicted two of the senator’s co-defendants – Wael “Will” Hana, an Egyptian-American who owns a halal meat certification company in New Jersey, and Fred Daibes, a prominent Bergen County real estate developer.

Both men sought favors from Menendez in exchange for gifts. In Hana’s case, Menendez pressured a U.S. Department of Agriculture official to stop challenging the monopoly that the Egyptian government had granted the businessman’s company, making it the only company able to certify U.S. meat imports that met religious standards.

” READ MORE: Who is Bob Menendez’s wife, Nadine? Who else was charged in the indictment?

In the case of Daibes, who was charged with separate bank frauds in 2018, Menendez sought the appointment of a U.S. attorney in New Jersey who he believed would treat his benefactor more favorably. The attempt failed, but the senator called U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger twice to persuade him, witnesses testified at the trial.

Menendez was also accused of trying to shut down an investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office at the request of a third businessman, Jose Uribe, who pleaded guilty last year and testified against the others at trial.

Uribe and two associates were implicated in an insurance fraud investigation. He told jurors that he bought Menendez’s wife a Mercedes-Benz in April 2019 in exchange for the senator’s support. Although Menendez met with prosecutors in September of that year, they testified that those conversations did not change the course of their investigation.

” READ MORE: Bob Menendez’s wife, Nadine Arslanian, fatally ran over the man in 2018. New Jersey authorities are reportedly currently investigating the case.

The jury also found Tuesday that some of the help Menendez gave to those who unwittingly gave him gifts may have made him a foreign agent. Prosecutors described Hana’s efforts to enlist the senator to help ease tensions between the U.S. and Egypt in 2015 after an American tourist was mistakenly wounded in a military attack in the North African country.

The following year, Menendez, at the request of his wife and Hanna, met with the Egyptian general, and after that meeting he began to urge the U.S. State Department to get more involved in the dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt over a dam the latter was building on the Nile River.

Will Menendez go to jail?

Not immediately. U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein is allowing the senator to remain free until his Oct. 29 sentencing hearing. And it’s likely that even when that day comes, Menendez won’t be immediately arrested. Defendants who pose no immediate threat or flight risk are routinely given time to get their affairs in order before reporting to begin serving their sentences.

He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on the most serious charges a jury convicted him of Tuesday, but he is likely to get less. U.S. judges are guided by sentencing guidelines, which calculate a recommended range based on the seriousness of a defendant’s crimes, his past and other factors, including, in Menendez’s case, breach of public trust. Although those recommendations are not binding on a judge, most courts tend to stick to or approach the recommended range of guidelines when setting sentences.

Stein could also order Menendez to forfeit all proceeds obtained through corruption and ban him from holding future public office.

Will Menendez have to resign?

Not necessarily. Menendez, whose career in New Jersey elected office spanned four decades, could opt to serve out the rest of his term, which ends in January. But the political pressure he has faced to resign — including from some Democrats — since his indictment last year is likely to intensify now that he has been convicted.

Within minutes of Tuesday’s verdict, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who had previously resisted sharing his opinions on what he thought Menendez should do, and several other top Democrats, including New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (Democrat, New Jersey) called on him to resign.

If Menendez refuses, the Senate could vote to expel him. Murphy will appoint an interim senator to serve the remainder of the term.

” READ MORE: Top Democrats Call on Sen. Bob Menendez to Resign After Conviction

Is Menendez running for re-election?

Although he chose not to run in the Democratic primary this year for his seat — which was won by U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D., N.J.) — Menendez filed to run as an independent candidate last month.

The campaign had little chance of success against Kim even before Tuesday’s verdict. The jury’s decision likely won’t support Menendez in the election.

Kim will face Republican candidate Curtis Bashaw in the November general election, and both on Tuesday repeated calls for Menendez to step down and drop out of the race.

” READ MORE: 10 Notable New Jersey Officials In Political Hall of Shame

When will Nadine Menendez’s trial take place?

Nadine Menendez was charged last year in the same indictment as her husband and his co-defendants and was initially scheduled to stand trial with them. But Judge Stein severed her case from the others while she underwent treatment for breast cancer.

She was scheduled to go on trial later this month. But Stein on Tuesday indefinitely adjourned those proceedings.

Will Menendez appeal?

As the senator left the courthouse on Tuesday, he and his lawyers announced they would file an appeal.

Before his sentencing, Menendez hired Yaakov M. Roth, a criminal appeals lawyer who was part of the legal teams that convinced the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss corruption charges against former Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and two aides to former New Jersey Gov. Christopher J. Christie who were convicted in the 2013 Bridgegate scandal.