Legal
Bob Menendez Bribery Trial Over Gold Bars, Cash Begins
- New Jersey Democratic senator poised to blame wife at trial
- Menendez seeks psychiatrist’s testimony about father’s suicide
The bribery trial of Senator Robert Menendez begins Monday with the embattled New Jersey Democrat potentially blaming his wife for his predicament and seeking to call a psychiatrist to defend why he hoarded the $480,000 in cash and 13 gold bars FBI agents found in his house.
Jury selection got underway on Monday morning in New York federal court for Menendez and two businessmen accused of bribing him, with the trial expected to last six to seven weeks. Prosecutors charged Menendez, 70, and his wife, Nadine, with accepting cash, gold and a Mercedes Benz in return for favors. He’s also charged with illegally helping the government of Qatar and acting as an agent of Egypt. He faces 20 years in prison on the most serious charge.