The latest corruption trial of Sen. Bob Menendez is scheduled to begin with jury selection on Monday as the New Jersey Paul fights allegations that he accepted bribes including gold bars and a Mercedes convertible.
This is the Garden State Democrat’s second federal criminal trial. He was tried in 2017 on other corruption and bribery charges, but the jury deadlocked, resulting in a mistrial.
Menendez, 70, was indicted along with his wife Nadine and three businessmen in a wide-ranging 18-count indictment that revealed a bribe-taking scheme between 2018 and 2022.
In return, prosecutors allege, the embattled senator provided political favors to the governments of Egypt and Qatar, as well as co-defendants Wael Hana, Fred Dybes and Jose Uribe.
Hana and Duives are scheduled to stand trial at the same time as Menendez, but Nadine’s trial was postponed to July due to health reasons. Uribe has entered into a plea deal and is cooperating with federal authorities and is expected to testify.
Menendez’s lawyers say Nadine is responsible for allegedly “hiding information” from her husband, leading law enforcement officials to believe that nothing illegal was going on. He said that there is a possibility that the debate will come up.
The scandal-plagued senator is also at odds with prosecutors over whether he should be allowed to call an expert psychiatrist to testify that he had a habit of hoarding money in his home because of past trauma. There’s an argument going on. bribe.
In a trial expected to last four to six weeks, jurors heard that federal authorities recovered 13 gold bars worth at least $150,000, $486,461 in cash and a 2019 model from Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs home. You will hear how the black Mercedes-Benz C-Class was seized.
Federal authorities allege the couple also bribed Nadine with other expensive gifts, including exercise machines, air purifiers, mortgage payments and payments for Nadine’s “no-shows or no-show jobs.” .
In return, Fed officials allege, Menendez acted as a foreign agent for Qatar and Egypt, including passing classified U.S. government information to the Egyptian government while serving as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He resigned as chairman after the indictment.
Mr. Menendez vehemently denies the charges. Nadine, Duives and Wael all pleaded not guilty.
In an earlier bribery case, Mr. Menendez took an all-out-of-pocket vacation from a doctor friend in exchange for using his office to help his young girlfriend obtain a visa and fight with Medicare over an $8.9 million bill. He is said to have received gifts such as gifts and private airline tickets. .
Mr. Menendez refused to resign. He does not intend to run for office again as a Democrat, but said he may seek re-election as an independent.
