Attorneys for Senator Bob Menendez urged jurors on Tuesday to acquit him of all charges against the New Jersey Democrat. corruption courtsaid federal prosecutors have failed to prove count one beyond a reasonable doubt.
The lawyer, Adam Fee, told the Manhattan federal court jury that there are too many gaps in the evidence that prosecutors want jurors to fill in on their own to conclude that the crime has been committed or that Menendez received any bribes.
“No evidence should be held against the prosecution,” he said. “There is no evidence that he said or suggested that he did anything to bribe.”
And he defended more than $100,000 in gold bars and more than $480,000 in cash meet in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, at the time of the June 2022 FBI search, although he acknowledged the valuables: “It was provocative. It was atypical.”
“The prosecution did not come close to meeting its burden of showing that the gold or cash was given to Senator Menendez as a bribe,” Fee said.
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“This is a case of many conclusions,” he said, pointing out there were large gaps in the evidence that were not supported by emails, texts or other evidence.
The longtime lawmaker faces 16 felony charges, including obstruction of justice, acting as a foreign agent, bribery, extortion and honest services wire fraud.
After the jury was sent home Tuesday, Fee told Judge Sidney Stein that he was halfway through the five-hour closing that will continue Wednesday morning. His closing will be followed by arguments from two other defense lawyers before the prosecution presents its rebuttal arguments. A jury will likely take up the case on Thursday.
Earlier Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Monteleoni said in closing arguments that started there that the senator has engaged in “wildly abnormal” behavior in response to bribes, including attempts to interfere in criminal cases handled by the top state and federal prosecutors in New Jersey.
Menendez pleaded not guilty to charges that he accepted bribes including gold and envelopes of cash from 2018 to 2022 from three New Jersey businessmen who wanted help in their business ventures.
The trial entered its ninth week on Monday.
Menendez was tried with two businessmen – Wael Hana and Fred Daibes. Hana, who the prosecutor said enlisted Menendez to help him protect the monopoly on the certification of meat exported from the US to Egypt, and Daibes, an influential real estate developer, have also both pleaded not guilty. A third businessman, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty and witness he bought a Mercedes-Benz convertible for the senator’s wife in exchange for Menendez dropping a criminal investigation into his business associate.
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Monteleoni rejected the defense’s attempts to make it appear that Menendez was not aware of the attempts to obtain cash or favors from businessmen by his girlfriend, Nadine Arslaniwho became his wife in October 2020. Fee already argue she went to great lengths to hide her financial problems, including her inability to pay for her house, from Menendez.
To demonstrate that Menendez was responsible for the bribery scheme, prosecutors pointed to testimony about a small bell that the senator allegedly used to call his wife one day when she was outside the house with Uribe and wanted him to bring a paper.
The bell “shows that he is the one in charge,” Monteleoni says, “not a puppet pulled on a string by someone summoned by the bell.”
Nadine Menendez was also charged in the case, but her trial has been postponed she is recovering from breast cancer surgery.
Menendez has resisted calls, even from some prominent Democrats, for him to step down, even though he gave up his powerful post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the allegations came to light last fall.
A few weeks ago, Menendez submitted for re-election this year as an independent.
