Prosecutors End Case in Senator’s Bribery Trial | News, Sports, Work

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., leaves federal court after concluding a hearing in his bribery trial, Friday, June 28, 2024, in New York. Prosecutors rested Friday after presenting evidence for seven weeks in Menendez’s bribery trial, allowing the Democrat and two New Jersey businessmen to begin calling their own witnesses next week to support defense claims that no crimes were committed and no bribes were paid. The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Prosecutors in the bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez 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 support their claims that no crimes were committed. crimes and no bribes were paid.

On the final day of direct examination, prosecutors obtained detailed information about the senator’s financial records by questioning an FBI accountant. Judge Sidney H. Stein then dismissed the jury 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 that he acquit their clients, citing the argument that prosecutors did not provide the jury with enough evidence to reach a verdict. These requests are a routine feature of trials after prosecutors have retired.

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

Defense 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 proven 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 claim that Nadine Menendez, who was Nadine Arslanian when she began dating the senator in early 2018, kept him in the dark about her financial problems. The couple married in the fall of 2020.

The defense also plans to introduce testimony that Arslanian maintained close contact with the senator at the height of the alleged conspiracy in late 2018 and early 2019 because she was being harassed by

ex-boyfriend.

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