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Don’t be distracted by the shiny object.
Or 13 shiny objects — as in bars of gold bullion.
That’s the aim of the attorneys for Sen. Bob. Menendez, the Democrat from New Jersey. The senator is on trial for the second time in lower than a decade on unrelated fees.
U.S. senators don’t go on trial fairly often. The late Sen. Ted Stevens, the Republican from Alaska, was on trial again in 2008. A jury convicted Stevens. Then Stevens had the case overturned. Stevens died in a aircraft crash after he misplaced his bid for re-election.
DEMOCRAT SEN. BOB MENENDEZ FACES SECOND FEDERAL CORRUPTION TRIAL WITH JURY SELECTION STARTING MONDAY
However who was the final U.S. senator on trial?
Bob Menendez in 2017.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., talks at a Senate Finance listening to on Capitol Hill March 21, 2024, in Washington. (AP Picture/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
In that case, Menendez was accused of accepting lavish presents for doing favors for an eye fixed physician. The case resulted in a hung jury.
Menendez torched prosecutors for even bringing that case. And he broke down when the case concluded.
“The best way this case began was flawed. The best way it was investigated was flawed. The best way it was prosecuted was flawed. And the way in which it was tried was flawed, as properly,” stated Menendez. “Sure components of the FBI and of our state can’t perceive or, even worse, settle for that the Latino child from Union Metropolis and Hudson County can develop as much as be a United States senator and be sincere.”
Menendez seemingly discovered redemption upon being given a second lease on his political profession.
“At present is Resurrection Day, and I need to thank God as soon as once more for permitting me to face earlier than you, as I walked into this courthouse 11 weeks in the past, an harmless man,” Menendez stated on the time.
He then ran for re-election in 2018 and gained.
The federal government says that’s the place hassle started.
Menedez is accused of taking bribes from businessmen within the Backyard State in change for favors. Amongst them, working as a overseas agent for Qatar. That’s the place the gold bars are available in. The feds accuse Menendez of accepting the gold bars from New Jersey businessman Fred Daibes in change for utilizing his muscle to assist get a cope with a Qatari funding fund.
The aim of Menendez’s protection counsel is to persuade jurors there isn’t essentially a connection between the gold bars and official favors.
Though prosecutors will level out that Menendez did a number of web searches, making an attempt to find out the price of gold bars in kilos.
One other cost targets Menendez and the previous chairman of the Senate Overseas Relations Committee. Investigators declare they have been doing the bidding of Egypt. Specifically, the feds accuse Menendez of writing shadow letters on behalf of senators, making an attempt to dislodge a Senate holdup on $300 million in navy support focused for Cairo.
JON STEWART CALLS OUT NANCY PELOSI, HUNTER BIDEN AND BOB MENENDEZ IN SEGMENT ON POLITICAL CORRUPTION
Prosecutors additionally accuse Menendez of taking funds to assist Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman, rating an settlement with the federal government of Egypt. Hana wished the Egyptians to certify that his imported halal meat met acceptable dietary pointers for Muslims.
Menendez argued that working with constituents was simply what lawmakers do.
“What a chilling impact on the mere engagements and of those conversations it could be,” Menendez stated of lawmakers merely partaking with individuals who search authorities help. “The USA Lawyer’s Workplace is just not engaged in a prosecution however a persecution. They search a victory. Not justice.”
Jury choice happened over a number of days.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., listens throughout a Senate Overseas Relations Committee listening to Dec. 7, 2023, in Washington. (AP Picture/Mariam Zuhaib)
On the primary day, Decide Sidney Stein dismissed 38 doable jurors outright, then hauled in one other pool of fifty potential jurors. One doable juror cited work on the Rockland County New York Humane Society as an issue along with her serving.
One other stated she had a non-refundable journey scheduled to Rome. Stein let her go however questioned the validity of the dearth of an obtainable refund.
A kids’s librarian from Greenwich, Conn., was one of many jury candidates. After she left, Stein opined on that line of labor in one other life.
“I’m telling you, that’s what I might do. Kids’s librarian,” stated Stein.
SEN BOB MENENDEZ MAY BLAME HIS WIFE NADINE DURING FEDERAL CORRUPTION TRIAL: COURT DOCS
It’s in all probability not that totally different from negotiating phrases for a federal trial for a U.S. senator.
One jury candidate instructed the courtroom a few worry of heights, noting that the courtroom is on the twenty third ground of the Daniel P. Moynihan Courthouse in Decrease Manhattan.
One other doable juror introduced she simply had an ingrown toenail eliminated and couldn’t serve as a result of a litany of different maladies.
“I believe she’d be an excessive amount of of an issue,” Stein stated after excusing her.
At the least it wasn’t a hangnail.
And, in spite of everything, the aim of Stein is to keep away from a hung jury.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, left, and his spouse Nadine Menendez arrive on the federal courthouse in New York Sept. 27, 2023. (AP Picture/Jeenah Moon, File)
Stein additionally instructed potential jurors a few of the testimony within the trial could also be in Spanish and Arabic, by an interpreter.
Stein additionally offered an inventory of varied political figures, starting from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., to Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y. Stein suggested the jury candidates they need to communicate up in the event that they know any of these figures or are aware of them. Stein didn’t say they would seem as witnesses, however he did say their names might come up within the trial. None are accused of wrongdoing.
On the 2017 trial of Menendez, his Backyard State colleague, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., sat within the courtroom on the primary day for ethical help. Booker testified as a personality witness on behalf of Menendez, together with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
However for this trial, Menendez seems to be on his personal.
“I’m not going to observe the day-to-day. I’ll be ready for the decision,” stated Booker.
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Menendez has disillusioned Senate Democrats who hoped he would resign. Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., usually offers a variation of the identical pat reply when requested whether or not Menendez ought to step down or if the Senate ought to expel the senator.
“The Senate has requirements as to correct habits. And Sen. Menendez’s habits has fallen method beneath that,” replied Schumer.
Menendez is not going to run for re-election as a Democrat. However he might accomplish that as an unbiased. In reality, the senator cracked open the door to that chance. The submitting deadline is June 4. The trial might run by mid-July.
