Robert Menendez’s Trial Is Set to Begin, With a Sprawling Web of Charges
The New York Times
Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey is accused of participating in an international bribery scheme involving gold bars, cash and a Mercedes-Benz.
Jury selection for Senator Robert Menendez’s corruption trial starts on Monday in a federal courthouse in Manhattan, a 20-mile drive from Mr. Menendez’s home in northern New Jersey, where for decades he has been a well-known Democratic political leader.
His efforts to move the trial to his home turf failed. Jurors picked to decide the case will be from Manhattan, the Bronx or one of several New York counties north of the city.
Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York have said that they expect to take at least four weeks to present their case against Mr. Menendez, who is accused of being at the center of an international bribery scheme involving more than $100,000 in gold bullion, an Egyptian halal meat monopoly and a Qatari sheikh.
Mr. Menendez, 70, will be tried with two New Jersey businessmen, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana.
His wife, Nadine Menendez, 57, was also charged in the bribery scheme but will be tried separately, in July. A judge granted her request for a delay after her lawyers said she had a serious medical condition that required prompt treatment and, possibly, a lengthy recovery.
All four defendants have pleaded not guilty, and Mr. Menendez has said he will be exonerated at trial, leaving open the possibility that he might run for re-election as an independent in November.
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