In the corruption trial of New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, who is charged with exchanging his political power for money, gold bars, and a brand-new Mercedes-Benz convertible, jury selection got underway on Monday.
When the court adjourned in the early evening, no jurors had been chosen. After the court conducted a private interview with many prospective jurors, many of them stated that they believed they were unsuitable to serve.
Over 100 prospective jurors were summoned to return to the federal courthouse in New York City on Tuesday for additional questioning after about thirty of them were rejected.
The accusations stem from when the Democratic senator started dating Nadine Menendez, who was also charged in the corruption investigation, and who is currently his wife, in 2018.
Menendez allegedly secretly assisted the governments of Qatar and Egypt and granted political benefits to three businesses in New Jersey, according to the prosecution.
Menendez’s possible defense tactics were made public in recent court documents. These included naming his spouse as an informant and claiming that saving money was a “coping mechanism” following “two significant traumatic events” in his life.
Menendez, wearing a crimson tie and a dark blue suit, was seated with his legal team in front of two of his codefendants, fidgeting every now and again and tapping his fingers on the table. Menendez hasn’t ruled out testifying, and all three have entered not guilty pleas.
U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein stated on Monday that the trial might go for six or seven weeks, concluding in late June or early July.
Menendez, who resigned from his influential position as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman after being accused in September, is being tried for the second time in less than ten years on allegations of corruption. In November 2017, a deadlocked jury in New Jersey concluded his first case.
What offenses are Menendez and his spouse accused of?
In September 2023, Menendez and his spouse were first accused of three felonies: conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official authority.
Menendez allegedly used his position as the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s chair to cover up a years-long corruption scheme that involved secretly helping Egypt, pressuring a U.S. Department of Agriculture official to defend a business monopoly Egypt had granted to a New Jersey businessman named Wael Hana, interfering with the criminal investigation and prosecution of another businessman named Jose Uribe and his associates by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, and trying to influence a federal prosecution of a third New Jersey businessman named Fred Daibes. All of these allegations were detailed in the initial indictment.
In October 2023, an additional charge was added to the superseding indictment, stating that the couple planned to serve as Egypt’s foreign agent.
Menendez and his wife, according to the prosecution, sent Egyptian officials “highly sensitive” and secret information regarding the American embassy in Cairo and military assistance to Egypt through Hana.
Additionally, it is said that the senator ghostwrote a letter urging his fellow senators to lift the embargo on $300 million in aid intended for Egypt.
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In March 2020, Nadine Menendez allegedly texted an Egyptian intelligence official, “Any you need anything you have my number and we will make everything happen,” a few days before her husband and the official were set to meet for the first of multiple times.
A second superseding indictment from January contained claims that Menendez had spoken well of the Qatari government while Daibes was attempting to get a multimillion-dollar investment from a government-affiliated business.
In March of this year, Menendez was charged with sixteen counts altogether after being accused on twelve new counts in a third superseding indictment. The other allegations include wire fraud pertaining to honest services, bribery, extortion, public official operating as a foreign agent, and obstruction of justice.
Due to a “serious medical condition,” Nadine Menendez’s trial was held apart from her husband’s. She is accused of 15 crimes. She entered a not guilty plea as well.
As Nadine Menendez faced foreclosure on her home, the prosecutors claim that the Menendezes received extravagant gifts from the businessmen in exchange for the senator using his influence and power to enrich the men. The gifts included cash, gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, furniture, and mortgage payments.
Upon executing a search warrant at the couple’s residence in June 2022, detectives discovered over $480,000 in cash concealed within jackets and envelopes, along with thirteen gold bars valued at over $100,000. In a nearby bank’s safe deposit box, they found about $80,000.
Menendez claimed that, following the first indictment, he had been taking thousands of dollars out of his personal savings account every month for thirty years, just in case. He said that the “old-fashioned” behavior originated from his family’s time spent in Cuba.