CNN
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A sitting US senator is ready to face a weekslong trial over charges of taking bribes together with gold bars, money and a luxurious automotive to, amongst different issues, assist push US help and weapons to a overseas authorities and cease a federal case in opposition to one among his co-defendants.
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who faces 16 costs together with conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to hinder justice, has rejected calls to resign and, whereas he received’t run within the state’s major for his seat, has left open the possibility for an unbiased run following his trial.
The senator told CNN’s Manu Raju on Capitol Hill final week, “I’m wanting ahead to proving my innocence,” when requested repeatedly whether or not he would resign within the face of a possible conviction.
Prosecutors say Menendez and his wife, Nadine, helped a number of New Jersey businessmen – all of whom have been charged within the conspiracy – get hold of profitable contracts with Egyptian and Qatari officers and tried to stress authorities to cease investigations into the businessmen and their associates.
Jury choice within the case begins Monday.
Menendez will likely be tried with two of his co-defendants, Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman, and Fred Daibes, a New Jersey actual property developer. His spouse faces trial in July.
Right here’s what to know:
In keeping with the indictment, Hana and Nadine Menendez – who have been buddies for years earlier than she began courting the senator in 2018 – labored collectively to attach the senator with a number of Egyptian officers to assist safe US army help in addition to an unique contract with Hana’s firm.
The contract, prosecutors say, made Hana’s firm the one enterprise in a position to certify US meals exports to Egypt as compliant with halal requirements.
Menendez, who on the time held senior positions on the Senate International Relations Committee, a put up with energy over overseas army gross sales, met a number of occasions with Hana’s contacts within the Egyptian army and helped steer US army gross sales and help to the nation, in response to prosecutors.
The indictment additionally alleges Menendez ghostwrote a letter on behalf of the Egyptian authorities trying to steer different senators to raise a maintain on $300 million in help.
Along with his alleged settlement to make use of his place to facilitate army gross sales and financing to Egypt, Menendez additionally handed alongside delicate info to his spouse about who was serving on the US Embassy in Cairo, prosecutors say. His spouse, in flip, despatched the knowledge to Hana, who forwarded it to an Egyptian authorities official.
The senator additionally allegedly pressured an official on the Division of Agriculture to guard the halal certification monopoly Hana had secured with Egypt for his firm, by way of which his spouse was allegedly being paid for Menendez’s efforts.
Menendez’s entanglements with overseas governments prolonged to Qatari officers, prosecutors say.
In change for gold bars, whose worth Menendez searched on-line a number of occasions, and different objects, Menendez helped his co-defendant Daibes safe a multimillion-dollar funding from Qatari officers in an actual property mission, in response to prosecutors.
Utilizing his energy as senator, prosecutors say Menendez tried to affect a number of instances in New Jersey involving his co-defendants, together with by speaking with a high prosecutor on one case and by working to suggest a candidate for the job of New Jersey’s US legal professional, who Menendez believed would assist quash a case in opposition to Daibes.
For Menendez’s efforts in pressuring an official in a single case, New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe and Hana purchased Nadine a luxurious automotive, prosecutors say.
In Might, Uribe pleaded responsible to seven counts associated to the bribery scheme involving Menendez and his co-defendants and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors within the case, together with by testifying on the trial.
Finally, in response to the indictment, Menendez’s affect campaigns have been unsuccessful. The New Jersey case in opposition to Daibes is ongoing.
In keeping with prosecutors, after search warrants have been executed on the Menendezes’ house – the place gold bars and a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} in money have been discovered – and elsewhere, the senator and his spouse tried to cowl up the bribes by paying again the businessmen for the mortgage and luxurious automotive, claiming they have been merely loans.
The indictment states that attorneys for the 2 advised prosecutors – counting on statements from the married couple – that the bribe funds have been truly loans. Menendez allegedly had his legal professional on the time say he was initially unaware of the mortgage and automotive funds, which prosecutors say is fake.
The couple has been charged with obstructing justice.
Attorneys for Menendez have hinted at a number of doable defenses they might deliver throughout trial, together with that the 13 gold bars and $480,000 in money investigators present in his house could possibly be defined by intergenerational household trauma in addition to a psychological dysfunction stemming partly from his father’s suicide.
Shortly after he was indicted on bribery costs final yr, Menendez advised reporters he had withdrawn 1000’s of {dollars} in money over the course of 30 years, citing “the historical past of my household dealing with confiscation in Cuba.”
The household trauma and loss of life of his father, protection attorneys say, led to a worry of shortage by way of which Menendez developed “seemingly uncommon” coping mechanisms.
Menendez may try to put the blame for the alleged conspiracy on his spouse, Nadine, whose trial was delayed resulting from a medical challenge.
“Senator Menendez intends to current a protection arguing (partly) that he lacked the requisite data of a lot of the conduct and statements of his spouse, Nadine, and thus lacks scienter and didn’t agree to affix any of the charged conspiracies,” attorneys for Menendez wrote in a court docket submitting.