Jury selection continues Tuesday morning in the federal corruption trial of Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. As of Monday afternoon, no jurors had been seated for the trial, which is being held in a Manhattan courtroom and is expected to last until the end of June.
By Monday afternoon, the judge had excused 38 of the 152 jurors from appearing in court for various reasons. This means his remaining 114 jurors will return this morning to continue selection.
Jurors found evidence against Menendez and two New Jersey businessmen, Fred Dybes and Wael Hana, that they participated in a bribery scheme that included interfering with criminal investigations and benefiting the Egyptian and Qatari governments. They are expected to determine whether or not they have shown that they did so.
All three have maintained their innocence. Co-defendant Jose Uribe pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the other defendants. The trial of the senator’s wife, who is also indicted, has been postponed until at least July for health reasons.
This is the second time in a decade that Menendez has been charged in a federal corruption case.
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New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine Menendez arrive at a federal courthouse in New York on September 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Gina Moon, File)
Menendez was charged by federal prosecutors with obstruction of justice in a separate superseding indictment unsealed in March related to the multi-year allegations. bribery scheme The governments of Egypt and Qatar are involved.
The 18-page indictment accuses Menendez and his co-defendants, including his wife Nadine, of acting as foreign agents and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to benefit the Egyptian government through their power. This is a compilation of charges that have already been indicted. and his influence as a senator.
The charges came after Mr. Uribe accepted a plea deal and agreed to cooperate last week. Tuesday’s indictment also alleges that Menendez committed conspiracy, bribery and fraud. foreign agentextortion and wire fraud.
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Sen. Bob Menendez has pleaded not guilty in a federal corruption case. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Prosecutors also allege in the new indictment that Menendez told his lawyer that businessman Wael Hana made more than $23,000 in payments for Nadine’s mortgage and donations from Uribe. The company said it had instructed it to notify the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in 2022 that it was aware of the incident. Her new luxury car.
Mr. Menendez is also said to have given advice. his lawyer At the time, he told the prosecutor’s office that he later discovered that the funds were actually loans, and that “in fact, and as Menendez well knew, the mortgage and the car loan. The payments were made prior to 2022, and they were bribes, not loans,” prosecutors wrote in Tuesday’s indictment.
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Wael Hana (center) leaves a federal courthouse in New York on Tuesday, September 26, 2023. Hana is a co-defendant with Robert Menendez.
Menendez is also suspected of accepting bribes and gifts in return for supporting interests in Qatar as part of a corruption scheme between 2021 and 2023.
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Mr. Menendez, along with his wife and three New Jersey businessmen, was first indicted in the federal bribery scheme on September 23. Mr. Hana, Mr. Duives, and Sen. Nadine Menendez have pleaded not guilty.
Fox News Digital’s Daniel Wallace and Jennifer Johnson contributed to this report.
