Isabel Vincent, Fordham University adjunct journalism professor and senior reporter at the New York Post, recently released her new book “Gold Bar Bob: The Downfall of the Most Corrupt U.S. Senator,” alongside co-author Thomas Jason Anderson. The book compiles 15 years’ worth of investigative reporting on the now disgraced New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez.
The book chronicles how Menendez constructed his nearly 50-year-long political career and how foreign influence, corruption and federal charges ultimately led him to an 11-year sentence in federal prison. Vincent recounted that while the book was largely centered around Menendez’s individual corruption, her ultimate goal was to highlight the other forces that defined his corruption, such as Cold War era Cuban exile groups, political figures from his home town Union, New Jersey and a political system that upheld Menendez’s ability to hold such a high political position with little to no accountability for his actions.
“I say to people, you might think you know who Bob Menendez is, but you don’t know,” Vincent said. “You don’t know the history, and the history is totally fascinating.”
Vincent discussed the release of her book and her investigative reporting process at her book launch held on Monday, Nov. 10, at Stu Loeser & Co., a media strategy and corporate intelligence firm. The event drew reporters from across the New York City area who had followed her through her decade-long work on Menendez’s political and personal corruption.
Vincent ultimately decided to write the book after Menendez was convicted and sentenced in January 2025 for acting as a foreign agent, bribery and obstruction of justice, when she realized much of Menendez’s early career was vastly unknown to the public.
“I was like, this needs to be a book because nobody really knows anything about his rise or remembers anything about his rise in Jersey,” Vincent said.
As she researched Menendez’s early career, Vincent found that a significant portion of his support came from Cold War-era Cuban exile groups now based in Union City, New Jersey. For Vincent, unraveling these forces was what inspired her to transform her investigative work into a full-length book.
“A lot of his backing came from the Fidel Castro Cubans who were trying to unseat Fidel Castro in Cuba by working with the CIA, planting bombs in Havana,” Vincent said. “These were the people that were on Menendez’s side … backing Menendez were these two Cuban exiles in 1963.”
Vincent noted that one of the most challenging aspects of her book’s development was convincing an editor that this was an original story that had yet to reach the public. To combat this, she started “bringing in all that background on the Cuban Revolution,” which was tied to Menendez’s early political career.
Throughout the process of writing this piece of work, Vincent discovered multiple pieces of information about Menendez’s career and personal life that she found interesting. What she found most interesting, however, was the vital role his high school education played in shaping his career.
Copies of “Gold Bar Bob” on Isabel Vincent’s shelf. (Sidney Blasco/The Fordham Ram)
“All of his people from high school followed him through,” Vincent said. “In high school, he was on every committee. He was president of the student body, he was in the tennis club, he was on all the political clubs in high school. And all of the friends he made became very important to him later on in life. That for me was totally fascinating.”
Although Vincent has written six other books, this was her first time collaborating with another author, which she said was surprisingly easy.
“This was sort of seamless,” Vincent said in her speech at her book launch, noting that their years of work together molded their collaborative dynamic. “He is a great thinker and just a really smart guy. And I think we have this mutual respect for each other over the years.”
Vincent said she hopes her book will prompt readers to question the American governmental system as a whole and why Menendez was allowed to continue serving as a senator despite the numerous allegations against him.