With the McDonnell precedent, I'm honestly skeptical Menendez gets convicted (he's a corrupt old gasbag but the standard is really high now)
It's possible he walks when all is said and done, but I do share your skepticism to a degree. The McDonnell case seemed a lot weaker than this one. A cursory review of the specifics shows Menendez actually doing a lot more than McDonnell ever did. It looks like McDonnell mostly just took a bunch of gifts but didn't give anything in return, except his time. In Menendez's case, he actually seemed to reciprocate a good deal.
Either way, it's not unreasonable to see his appeals sucking up a few months of time, which would be enough on its own to allow Democrats to punt an expulsion vote to after Murphy takes office. Democrats would have to be fools to help boot him out before then.
Oh yeah, the case against Melendez is MUCH stronger
