In their closing arguments, prosecutors charged Senator Bob Menendez. his bribery trial On Monday, three New Jersey businessmen said they would sell their power after they were accused of bribing him with gold and cash.
The New Jersey Democrat left the courthouse, mocking Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Monteleone’s presentation, which was scheduled to continue Tuesday, saying the government was “drunk on its own investigation.”
Minutes earlier, Monteleone urged a Manhattan federal court jury to trace hundreds of emails and text messages exchanged between the businessman, Menendez and his wife to establish a link between the businessman and the cash, gold and Mercedes-Benz convertible that investigators found at the couple’s home in June 2022.
He also said he would be able to match fingerprint evidence linking the businessman and Menendez to the bribe, including fingerprints on tape tying up thousands of dollars in cash hidden in coat pockets, boots and boxes inside the home his wife owned in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Nadine Menendez.
Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Monteleone said the senator was “selling away his power.”
Prosecutors say it’s not enough that the senator is one of the most powerful people in Washington, a ranking member and later chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who could block or approve hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to countries like Egypt.
“He also wanted to use it to accumulate wealth for himself and his wife,” Monteleone said.
Monteleone’s arguments wrapped up as the trial in Manhattan federal court entered its ninth week, and the case was about halfway through when the court wrapped up its proceedings for the day.
As he left the courthouse, Menendez mocked the prosecution’s closing argument, saying the government “spent two hours on charts instead of witnesses who were in front of the jury.” He added that Monteleone “spent two hours telling the jury what he believed should be a conversation that they had never heard.”
Monteleone told jurors to closely examine communications between the senator, his wife and the businessman, looking for evidence of bribery and attempts to cover up the scheme, saying there was a clear pattern of corruption.
Monteleone said the defendants claimed most of the gold in the house was inherited from Nadine Menendez, but he argued that the serial numbers on the bars showed they came from a businessman who had paid the bribe.
“The story about Nadine having the family gold is just a distraction,” he said.
Prosecutors said the senators took bribes and took actions to protect or enhance the business interests of businessmen between 2018 and 2022. Putting Pressure on USDA Officials Egypt and New Jersey businessman Wael Hana to protect the exclusive halal certification rights granted to him Attempt to influence federal prosecutors Another New Jersey businessman, Fred Davis.
Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images
Menendez, Hana and Daibes have pleaded not guilty and are being tried together. A third New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, has pleaded guilty in the case. testified about other people During the federal trial, which was the second time the senator had faced charges in the past decade, none of the defendants testified.
Menendez’s previous trial in New Jersey ended in a jury disagreement in 2017. After the indictment was filed last fall, Menendez was forced to give up his powerful position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Nadine Menendez was also implicated in the incident, but her trial be postponed While recovering from breast cancer surgery until August, she also pleaded not guilty.
Menendez’s attorneys argued as part of his defense that tens of thousands of dollars in cash found in the senator’s boots and jacket were from his crimes. The habit of keeping cash at home It was after hearing a family story about how they escaped Cuba in 1951 with only cash hidden in their grandfather’s watch.
His attorneys also argued that Nadine Menendez, who began dating the senator in 2018 and married him two years later, told him nothing about her financial struggles and the help she sought from businessmen.
Menendez has been in public office continuously since 1986, first as a state legislator and then as a U.S. representative for 14 years. In 2006, then-Governor Jon Corzine appointed Menendez to the Senate seat he had vacated when he became governor.
A few weeks ago, Menendez filed to run for reelection as an independent this year.
