Washington — The fate of Sen. Bob Menendez now lies in the hands of twelve jurors, who began deliberations Friday afternoon in the New Jersey Democrat’s bribery trial, according to the Associated Press.
The trial, initially expected to last six weeks, has stretched into its ninth week.
Menendez, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged with 16 felony counts, including obstruction of justice, acting as a foreign agent, bribery, extortion and honest services wire fraud. He is accused of using his political influence to benefit two foreign governments, while helping three New Jersey businessmen in return for bribes that included stacks of cash, gold bars, mortgage payments and a Mercedes-Benz convertible.
Since mid-May, prosecutors have detailed a wide-ranging corruption scheme in which Menendez allegedly used his influence as the then-chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee to secretly benefit Egypt and pressure a Department of Agriculture official to protect a halal certification monopoly Egypt granted to businessman Wael Hana, who was paying the senator’s wife, Nadine Menendez.
The senator also allegedly tried to quash state and federal criminal cases related to former insurance broker Jose Uribe and real estate developer Fred Daibes. Menendez was helping Daibes land a lucrative investment deal with Qatar at the same time, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Menendez and his wife tried to obstruct the investigation after they were initially charged by characterizing some of the alleged bribe payments as loans, which “caused” their former lawyers to make false statements to prosecutors.
A judge postponed Nadine Menendez’s trial until August because she’s recovering from breast cancer surgery. She has pleaded not guilty.
Hana and Daibes, who have also pleaded not guilty, are on trial with the senator.
Uribe pleaded guilty earlier this year and testified in this trial that he asked Menendez directly for his help, months after he said he handed Nadine Menendez $15,000 in cash in a restaurant parking lot for a downpayment on a $60,000 Mercedes. Uribe made her car payments until June 2022 — the same month the FBI searched the Menendezes’ home and found over $480,000 in cash and gold bars worth more than $100,000.
“This is a big case, but it all boils down to a classic case of corruption on a massive scale,” prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said this week during closing arguments.
The senator chose not to testify in his own defense. His lawyers have asserted the government is prosecuting routine legislative activity. They also have tried to pin the blame on Nadine Menendez, saying she had financial troubles that she did not disclose to her husband.
“There is no text, there is no email, there is no recording, there is no voicemail, there is no photo, that ever shows Senator Menendez taking a bribe in exchange for doing something. There is none,” his lawyer Adam Fee said this week, saying the government’s case is based on “painfully thin” evidence.
Fee asked jurors to “resist the temptation to pick the salacious story about a corrupt politician, because it’s not there.”
Prosecutors pushed back on the defense’s assertion that the couple lived separate lives, showing jurors text messages of the couple sharing mundane details about their day with each other and the senator checking in on his wife’s location. They said Menendez was careful while committing the alleged crimes.
“When a sophisticated, careful person like Menendez commits a crime, he doesn’t say the quiet part out loud,” Monteleoni said. “He doesn’t negotiate the bribe payment himself. He has Nadine do that for him. He insulates himself.”
Ash Kalmar contributed reporting.
