Jury begins deliberations in Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal corruption trial

By CNN Newsource

Published July 12, 2024 12:14 PM

By Sabrina Souza, Nicki Brown, Kara Scannell and Gregory Krieg, CNN

(CNN) — The jury in the federal corruption trial against Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his co-defendants began deliberations Friday after hearing from 37 witnesses over nine weeks of testimony.

Jurors were dismissed for the day after deliberating for approximately three hours Friday and are expected to return to Manhattan criminal court at 9:30 a.m. ET on Monday to continue their deliberations.

Menendez and his co-defendants, New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, are accused of participating in a yearslong bribery scheme. Prosecutors say the senator tried to use his power to advance Egyptian military interests, interfere in criminal prosecutions and secure investment from Qatari officials, among other things. Menendez and his wife allegedly received gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, a Mercedes Benz convertible and other bribes in exchange for his influence.

The senator’s wife, Nadine Menendez, was also charged in the case, but will be tried separately later this year after she was granted a delay by the judge so she can focus on her treatment for breast cancer. She has pleaded not guilty.

Bob Menendez faces 16 counts – including bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent – for his alleged role in the scheme.

The senator has denied any wrongdoing and accused prosecutors of targeting him. He did not take the stand in his own defense during the trial.

Prosecutors spent nearly seven weeks untangling the multiple corruption schemes that they allege Bob and Nadine Menendez and the co-defendants were involved in.

Federal prosecutors structured their case by chapters, calling witnesses to testify about separate schemes allegedly brokered by the senator in tandem with his wife. According to evidence presented by prosecutors in court, the schemes involved Hana, Daibes and another co-conspirator, Jose Uribe, the New Jersey businessman who allegedly bribed the senator in exchange for legal favors. Uribe struck a plea deal ahead of the trial.

Bob Menendez’s attorneys consistently suggested in cross-examinations that the senator was not aware of the deals his wife struck with the co-defendants, which included offering the senator’s influence for a price.

Prosecutors alleged that Nadine Menendez was an intermediary for communications between the co-conspirators and her willing husband.

During the trial, the senator’s lawyers called five witnesses, including his sister, sister-in-law and the attorney for a friend of Uribe. A Menendez lawyer said the senator customarily stored cash due to familial trauma caused by the Cuban communist regime. (Menendez was born in New York City, and Fidel Castro had not yet come to power at the time his family left Cuba). In his closing argument, Menendez’s defense attorney said the lack of evidence in the case against the senator made it “shaky and rotten to its core.”

The trial has been largely overshadowed, first by former President Donald Trump’s conviction in a nearby Manhattan criminal court at the end of May and then by the drama surrounding Joe Biden’s political fate. But a verdict in Menendez’s case could have broader consequences – potentially imperiling Democrats’ narrow Senate majority and throwing New Jersey politics into a new round of disarray.

Menendez, who is up for reelection in November, did not run in the Democratic primary this spring. Rep. Andy Kim, of South Jersey, is now the Democratic nominee, but Menendez has floated an independent bid to keep his seat – if he is acquitted. That could lead to a messy, three-way race in which Kim and Menendez could split the Democratic vote, opening a path for Republican nominee Curtis Bashaw – a scenario Senate Democrats are desperate to avoid given the many challenges they face in defending their narrow majority.

This story has been updated with additional information.