A sitting US senator is facing a weeklong trial on charges of bribery which include gold bars, cash, and a luxury car among other things.
These bribes were allegedly in exchange for influencing US aid and weapon deals with a foreign government and halting a federal case against a co-defendant, CNN reports.
A Democratic senator from New Jersey, Bob Menendez, who is facing 16 charges, including conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to obstruct justice has rejected calls for resignation.
He planned to prove his innocence and has not ruled out an independent run following the trial.
He told CNN’s Manu Raju on Capitol Hill last week, “I am looking forward to proving my innocence,” when asked repeatedly whether he would resign in the face of a potential conviction.
Prosecutors claimed that Menendez and his wife, Nadine, aided New Jersey businessmen in obtaining lucrative contracts with Egyptian and Qatari officials and attempted to halt investigations into them and their associates.
The Jury selection in the case is set to begin on Monday.
Menendez will be tried alongside two of his co-defendants, an Egyptian American businessman, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer. His wife faces trial in July.
Foreign entanglements
Hana and Nadine Menendez collaborated to introduce the senator to various Egyptian officials in order to facilitate the procurement of US military aid and an exclusive contract with Hana’s company, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors contended that this contract granted Hana’s company the sole authority to certify US food exports to Egypt as meeting halal standards.
Menendez, who held influential positions on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time, reportedly met with Hana’s contacts in the Egyptian military multiple times and played a role in directing US military sales and aid to Egypt.
Also, the indictment accused Menendez of penning a letter on behalf of the Egyptian government in an effort to convince other senators to release $300 million in aid.
In addition to allegedly agreeing to leverage his position for military sales and financing to Egypt, Menendez is accused of sharing sensitive information with his wife about personnel at the US Embassy in Cairo.
Prosecutors claim his wife then relayed this information to Hana, who passed it on to an Egyptian government official.
Also, the senator purportedly exerted pressure on an official at the Department of Agriculture to safeguard the halal certification monopoly obtained by Hana’s company in Egypt. Prosecutors suggest that Menendez’s wife received compensation for his actions.
Prosecutors noted that Menendez’s involvement with foreign governments also extended to Qatari officials.
Allegedly, in exchange for gold bars and other items, Menendez assisted his co-defendant Daibes in securing a multimillion-dollar investment from Qatari officials for a real estate project.
Prosecutors also alleged that Menendez, using his authority as a senator, sought to sway multiple cases in New Jersey involving his co-defendants.
This included conversations with a key prosecutor and efforts to endorse a candidate for the position of New Jersey’s US attorney, whom Menendez believed would assist in dismissing a case against Daibes.
As a result of Menendez’s purported influence in one instance, New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe and Hana purportedly purchased a luxury car for Nadine.
Uribe later pleaded guilty to seven counts related to the bribery scheme involving Menendez and his co-defendants, agreeing to cooperate with federal prosecutors, including testifying at the trial.
Despite Menendez’s alleged efforts, the indictment states that his attempts to influence were unsuccessful, and the case against Daibes in New Jersey continues.
Alleged cover-up
Following the execution of search warrants at the Menendezes’ residence, where large sums of cash and gold bars were discovered, prosecutors alleged that the senator and his wife tried to conceal the bribes by repaying the businessmen for the mortgage and luxury car, asserting they were loans.
According to the indictment, the couple’s attorneys informed prosecutors, based on statements from the couple, that the bribe payments were loans.
Prosecutors argued that Menendez had his attorney falsely claim he was unaware of the mortgage and car payments initially.
The couple faces charges of obstructing justice.
Menendez’s defense
Menendez’s attorneys have suggested several potential defences for the trial, including attributing the discovery of 13 gold bars and $480,000 in cash in his home to intergenerational family trauma and a psychological disorder stemming from his father’s suicide.
Shortly after his indictment on bribery charges, Menendez stated to reporters that he had withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash over three decades, citing his family’s history of facing confiscation in Cuba.
The defence attorneys argue that the trauma and loss of his father contributed to Menendez’s development of unusual coping mechanisms stemming from a fear of scarcity.
Menendez may also seek to shift blame onto his wife, Nadine, whose trial was postponed due to a medical issue.
Menendez’s defence team stated in a court filing that he intended to argue that he lacked knowledge of much of his wife’s conduct and statements, thus negating any agreement to participate in the alleged conspiracies.
