Current:Home > StocksJurors in Sen. Bob Menendez's bribery trial begin deliberations-InfoLens
Jurors in Sen. Bob Menendez's bribery trial begin deliberations
View Date:2024-12-23 16:28:54
Washington — The fate of Sen. Bob Menendez now lies in the hands of twelve jurors, who began deliberations Friday afternoon in the New Jersey Democrat's bribery trial.
The trial, initially expected to last six weeks, will stretch into its tenth week, as jurors left Friday evening without a verdict. They will return Monday.
Menendez, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged with 16 felony counts, including obstruction of justice, acting as a foreign agent, bribery, extortion and honest services wire fraud. He is accused of using his political influence to benefit two foreign governments, while helping three New Jersey businessmen in return for bribes that included stacks of cash, gold bars, mortgage payments and a Mercedes-Benz convertible.
Since mid-May, prosecutors have detailed a wide-ranging corruption scheme in which Menendez allegedly used his influence as the then-chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee to secretly benefit Egypt and pressure a Department of Agriculture official to protect a halal certification monopoly Egypt granted to businessman Wael Hana, who was paying the senator's wife, Nadine Menendez.
The senator also allegedly tried to quash state and federal criminal cases related to former insurance broker Jose Uribe and real estate developer Fred Daibes. Menendez was helping Daibes land a lucrative investment deal with Qatar at the same time, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Menendez and his wife tried to obstruct the investigation after they were initially charged by characterizing some of the alleged bribe payments as loans, which "caused" their former lawyers to make false statements to prosecutors.
A judge postponed Nadine Menendez's trial until August because she's recovering from breast cancer surgery. She has pleaded not guilty.
Hana and Daibes, who have also pleaded not guilty, are on trial with the senator.
Uribe pleaded guilty earlier this year and testified in this trial that he asked Menendez directly for his help, months after he said he handed Nadine Menendez $15,000 in cash in a restaurant parking lot for a downpayment on a $60,000 Mercedes. Uribe made her car payments until June 2022 —the same month the FBI searched the Menendezes' home and found over $480,000 in cash and gold bars worth more than $100,000.
Envelopes containing Daibes' fingerprints or DNA that were seized from Menendez's home had $82,500, Megan Rafferty, a forensic accountant at the FBI, testified earlier this month. Nearly the same amount of cash that was put into circulation in February 2018 or later was found in envelopes in Menendez's basement or his home office, she said.
From 2018 to mid-2022 —the timeframe of the alleged scheme— Menendez withdrew about $55,000 in cash from his account at the Senate Federal Credit Union, according to Rafferty, who said the average withdrawal was about $400. There were no bank or credit card records showing withdrawals of $10,000 — the amount of cash found within a number of envelopes in the home.
Russell Richardson, a forensic accountant who analyzed Menendez's cash withdrawals on behalf of the defense, testified that the senator took out about $400 twice a month between 2008 and 2022. Those withdrawals totaled more than $150,000, he said.
After he was indicted, Menendez explained the cash stockpile as a years-long habit that stemmed from his family's experience in Cuba, before he was born. His older sister testified in his defense that their parents regularly hid cash at home, saying it was "a Cuban thing."
Prosecutors linked the gold bars to Daibes and Hana through serial numbers. The gold, according to Menendez's lawyers, was inherited from Nadine Menendez's family.
"This is a big case, but it all boils down to a classic case of corruption on a massive scale," prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said this week during closing arguments.
The senator chose not to testify in his own defense. His lawyers have asserted the government is prosecuting routine legislative activity. They also have tried to pin the blame on Nadine Menendez, saying she had financial troubles that she did not disclose to her husband.
"There is no text, there is no email, there is no recording, there is no voicemail, there is no photo, that ever shows Senator Menendez taking a bribe in exchange for doing something. There is none," his lawyer Adam Fee said this week, saying the government's case is based on "painfully thin" evidence.
Fee asked jurors to "resist the temptation to pick the salacious story about a corrupt politician, because it's not there."
Prosecutors pushed back on the defense's assertion that the couple lived separate lives, showing jurors text messages of the couple sharing mundane details about their day with each other and the senator checking in on his wife's location. They said Menendez was careful while committing the alleged crimes.
"When a sophisticated, careful person like Menendez commits a crime, he doesn't say the quiet part out loud," Monteleoni said. "He doesn't negotiate the bribe payment himself. He has Nadine do that for him. He insulates himself."
Ash Kalmar contributed reporting.
- In:
- Bob Menendez
- New Jersey
- Bribery
- Trial
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
TwitterveryGood! (6578)
Related
- Maine dams face an uncertain future
- Alabama Environmental Group, Fishermen Seek to End ‘Federal Mud Dumping’ in Mobile Bay
- Florida sheriff posts mug shot of 11-year-old charged in fake school shooting threat
- Dancing With the Stars' Gleb Savchenko Shares Message to Artem Chigvintsev Amid Divorce
- MLS Star Marco Angulo Dead at 22 One Month After Car Crash
- Heat Protectants That Will Save Your Hair From Getting Fried
- Feds: Cockfighting ring in Rhode Island is latest in nation to exploit animals
- Bowl projections: Tennessee joins College Football Playoff field, Kansas State moves up
- Multi-State Offshore Wind Pact Weakened After Connecticut Sits Out First Selection
- Vanderpump Rules’ Lala Kent Shares First Photo of Baby Girl Sosa's Face
Ranking
- Deion Sanders says he would prevent Shedeur Sanders from going to wrong team in NFL draft
- Dancing With the Stars' Anna Delvey Reveals Her Hidden Talent—And It's Not Reinventing Herself
- Prefer to deposit checks in person? Bank branches may soon be hard to come by, report says
- Washington gubernatorial debate pits attorney general vs. ex-sheriff who helped nab serial killer
- Contained, extinguished and mopping up: Here’s what some common wildfire terms mean
- Dancing With the Stars: Dwight Howard, 'pommel horse guy' among athletes competing
- Loungefly’s Hauntingly Cute Halloween Collection 2024: Disney, Sanrio, Coraline & More — All on Sale Now
- Ping pong balls thrown at Atlanta city council members in protest of mayor, 'Cop City'
Recommendation
-
Massive dust storm reduces visibility, causes vehicle pileup on central California highway
-
3 dead in wrong-way crash on busy suburban Detroit highway
-
Influencer Candice Miller Sued for Nearly $200,000 in Unpaid Rent After Husband Brandon’s Death
-
Boeing CEO says the company will begin furloughs soon to save cash during labor strike
-
Oprah Winfrey denies being paid $1M for Kamala Harris rally: 'I was not paid a dime'
-
Eric Roberts Apologizes to Sister Julia Roberts Amid Estrangement
-
Florida sheriff posts mug shot of 11-year-old charged in fake school shooting threat
-
Kate Middleton Reaches New Milestone After Completing Chemotherapy for Cancer