Sen. Robert Menendez “peddled his power” and “betrayed the people he was supposed to serve,” prosecutors argued Wednesday as the New Jersey Democrat’s federal bribery trial began in New York.
Meanwhile, the defense presented Menendez not as an “agent of the Egyptian government” but as an “American patriot” who “did not accept bribes.”
Mr. Menendez has pleaded not guilty to 16 federal charges, including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction of business.
Federal prosecutors in New York allege that in exchange for the senator’s political influence, he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, mortgage payments and luxury convertibles. The recipients include three New Jersey businessmen who were also indicted, as well as the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
“He had power. He had corruption,” prosecutor Lara Pomerantz said of the senator in her opening statement. “In the United States, leaders are expected to put their country first and put the interests of their people above their own. This case is about a public official who put greed first.”
Pomerantz pointed to Menendez, who was sitting in the defense table with his head turned toward the jury.
“This is Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey. He was entrusted with making big decisions, including decisions that affect the national security of this country,” Pomerantz said. “Robert Menendez was a challenging U.S. senator driven by greed, focused on how much money he could put in his own pocket and his wife’s pocket. That’s why you’re here today. That’s what this trial is all about. “
Mr. Pomerantz told the jury that his compensation was gold bars, an envelope full of cash, a check to his wife for a no-show job, and a Mercedes-Benz convertible.
“This wasn’t politics as usual. This was politics for profit,” Pomerantz said. “The FBI found gold bars and more than $400,000 in cash throughout Menendez’s home, including in his safe, jacket pockets, and inside his shoes.”
Pomerantz outlined an alleged corruption scheme that began with promises to support the Egyptian government with military aid and “lined Menendez’s pockets.”
“Menendez promised to use his power to help Egypt, and this transaction of bribes for Menendez’s promises to help Egypt continued for years,” Pomerantz said.
The indictment says the deal was brokered by Wael Hana, a New Jersey businessman and friend of Menendez’s wife, Nadine, who prosecutors say was backed by the senator to maintain a monopoly on halal meat. I think it was.
“Robert Menendez intended to misuse his power to help Hana and the Egyptian government in exchange for bribes, which is what the law calls quid pro quo,” Pomerantz said. “Fake salaries and money from Hana for Menendez’s promise of military aid to Egypt.”
Menendez is also charged with accepting a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for helping the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office thwart a lawsuit.
“Why did Menendez agree to obstruct the criminal investigation? Because Nadine needed a car,” Pomerantz said. “Mr. Menendez will try to close the investigation.”
In the spring of 2019, another New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, handed Nadine $15,000 in cash, which prosecutors allege used as a down payment on a car. Pomerantz said she sent Menendez a message saying, “Congratulations. We are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes.” Prosecutors said Uribe had pleaded guilty, agreed to cooperate and continued to make monthly payments.
Shortly after Mr. Menendez allegedly agreed to use his powers to intervene in state criminal cases, Mr. Pomerantz said the senator had ordered a third businessman, Fred Duives, to block Duives’ federal prosecution. and pledged to support the Qatari government by supporting the Senate resolution. To praise the country.
“What did Menendez get in exchange? Cash and gold bars,” Pomerantz said.
She told the jury that Dybes’ fingerprints were found on an envelope containing cash found in Menendez’s home, and that the serial numbers on the gold bars identified them as belonging to Dybes and Hana.
At the time, the gold bars were worth $50,000 each, prosecutors said.
“Did Menendez know how much they were worth? That’s for sure,” Pomerantz said. “Mr. Menendez looked up the price of one kilogram of gold on Google.”
In his opening statement, defense attorney Avi Weitzman argued there was “an innocent explanation for the money and cash” found at the New Jersey senator’s home and blamed Menendez’s wife, who was also charged in the case. hinted at strategy.
“The gold bars were found in a locked closet, Nadine’s closet,” Weitzman said. “He didn’t know there were gold bars in that closet.”
Weitzman said the couple lived “separate lives” and the senator’s wife hid her financial concerns from her husband.
“The evidence will show that Nadine was hiding financial problems from Bob,” he said.
Mr. Menendez’s wife has maintained his innocence, and a separate trial is scheduled for July due to his medical condition.
“The government has been investigating this case for years,” the defense said, adding there was “no evidence whatsoever” that the senator had accepted bribes.
“He did not violate any laws, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s allegations are wrong and completely wrong,” Weitzman said. “He didn’t ask for bribes. He didn’t accept bribes.”
Menendez said all of the acts in the indictment were within the scope of his position.
“Bob was doing his job, and he was doing it right,” Weitzman said.
Weitzman likened Menendez to the character in the children’s book “Looking for Wally,” who always blends into the crowd, wearing blue pants, a red-and-white striped shirt, a hat and glasses. Ta.
Weitzman displayed the book’s characteristically crowded landscape on screen, accompanied by the cartoon-like words, “Where’s Bob?” And he encouraged jurors to think about that during the trial.
“Every time the government shows something about Nadine, ask yourself, ‘Where’s Bob?'” Weitzman said.
Mr. Weitzman maintained that the two lived separate lives.
“He didn’t know about the deal with Nadine,” Weitzman said of Menendez. “You can’t simply assume that Bob knows about them.”
Weitzman showed the jury a photo of Menendez’s closet with dress shirts neatly hung and said no cash was found there. He said much of the cash was found in the basement of Nadine’s home and had been withdrawn for more than 30 years.
“I know it sounds weird,” Weitzman said. “The senator learned from an early age the importance of having cash,” the lawyer said, attributing it to the upbringing of his Cuban exile parents. “These are not notes given as bribes.”
Jurors selected and sworn in early Wednesday included a retired economist, an occupational therapist who likes to “spend time with dogs,” a lawyer from Michigan and a man who “locked up his nephew for sexual abuse.” It is. Everyone vowed to be fair.
“I’m going to ask you to minimize your news intake to the extent that you feel comfortable,” Judge Sidney Stein told potential jurors at one point.
Before opening statements, the judge ruled out testimony from a psychiatrist that the defense had hoped would support Menendez’s claim that he hid cash in his home out of “fear of scarcity.” Menendez, the son of Cuban immigrants, said keeping cash on hand was part of his upbringing, but Stein said the psychiatrist’s testimony was “completely unreliable.”
Mr. Menendez is the first sitting member of Congress to be charged with conspiracy by a public official to act as a foreign agent.
The senator has maintained his innocence since he was first charged last year.
He announced in March that he would not seek another term as a Democrat, but left open the possibility of running as an independent in November.
