Prosecutors in Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial drop; judge rejects defense’s request for acquittal

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors in Sen. Bob Menendez’s bribery trial wrapped up their case Friday after presenting evidence for seven weeks, allowing lawyers for the Democrat and two New Jersey businessmen to begin calling their own witnesses next week to back up their claims that no crimes were committed and no bribes were paid.

On the final day of direct examination, prosecutors obtained details about the senator’s financial records by questioning an FBI accountant. Judge Sidney H. Stein then dismissed jurors for the weekend. Defense attorneys are scheduled to begin presenting their case Monday in federal court in Manhattan.

Later Friday, Stein rejected requests from lawyers for all three defendants to acquit their clients, arguing that prosecutors had not provided the jury with enough evidence to reach a verdict. Such requests are a routine feature of trials after prosecutors have retired.

Prosecutors say gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash found during a raid on Menendez’s home two years ago are bribes paid by the three businessmen between 2018 and 2022 in exchange for favors the senator, using his political power, did for them.

Attorneys say the gold belonged to his wife and that Menendez had a habit of keeping cash at home after his family lost almost everything in Cuba before moving to New York, where Menendez was born.

“The government has not presented sufficient evidence to support its case,” the senator noted as he left the courthouse on Friday afternoon.

Menendez, 70, is on trial along with two businessmen after a third pleaded guilty as part of a cooperation agreement with the government and testified at trial. Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez, is also a defendant in the case, which came to light last fall. Her trial was postponed as she recovers from breast cancer surgery. All defendants pleaded not guilty.

Menendez’s lawyers plan to spend up to three days presenting testimony from several witnesses to support their case that Nadine Menendez, whose name was Nadine Arslanian when she began dating the senator in early 2018, kept him in the dark about her financial problems. The couple got married in the fall of 2020.

The defense also plans to present testimony that Arslanian was in close contact with the senator at the height of the alleged conspiracy in late 2018 and early 2019 because she was being harassed by her ex-boyfriend.

Stein said Thursday that defense lawyers could obtain testimony against contrary evidence presented by prosecutors that could otherwise be interpreted as suggesting that Arslanian and the senator were closely monitoring each other’s movements because they were involved in the alleged conspiracy.

But he said he would not allow the jury to hear testimony that she underwent hospital treatment for violence in a relationship with a former boyfriend. He said Friday that the witness also could not testify to specific acts of stalking or harassment.

“This won’t be ‘Days of Our Lives’ or a soap opera,” a judge warned lawyers on Thursday.

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