US Senator Menendez's corruption trial on verge of getting jury
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[May 15, 2024]
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A jury for U.S. Senator Robert Menendez's corruption
trial could be seated as soon as Wednesday, to assess the Democrat's
role in what federal prosecutors called a years-long bribery scheme to
benefit foreign governments and himself.
In a second day of jury selection, U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein
questioned 32 prospective jurors on Tuesday in his Manhattan courtroom.
They had said they could be could be impartial toward New Jersey's
senior senator, who has pleaded not guilty to 16 criminal charges
including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction.
Earlier, the judge dismissed at least 75 others from the jury pool for
the trial, which he has said could last into July.
Though no jurors have been seated, Stein said a jury could be chosen on
Wednesday morning, followed by opening statements.
"We are making progress," Stein said.
Prosecutors said Menendez, 70, and his wife Nadine accepted several
hundred thousand dollars of cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz
convertible, in exchange for his providing political favors and aid to
the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes are being tried
alongside the senator. They also pleaded not guilty.
Menendez was accused of promising to help Egypt obtain arms sales and
other aid, helping Hana obtain a lucrative monopoly on certifying halal
meat exports to Egypt, and trying to help Daibes obtain millions of
dollars from a Qatari investment fund.
Prosecutors also accused the senator of trying to interfere in a federal
criminal case against Daibes in New Jersey, and in state criminal cases
involving two associates of Jose Uribe, an insurance broker.
Uribe pleaded guilty in March to bribery and fraud and agreed to
cooperate with prosecutors.
Nadine Menendez, 57, who married the senator 3-1/2 years ago, has also
been charged and pleaded not guilty.
She will be tried separately on July 8. Her lawyers have said she
suffered a serious medical condition that required a long recovery.
Lawyers for Robert Menendez have suggested that if the senator
testified, he may try to blame his wife, possibly for withholding
information and making him believe his activities were lawful.
JOHN OLIVER
The remaining prospective jurors have a wide range of backgrounds. There
are a few lawyers, investment bankers, a scientist and multiple health
care workers.
Many said they got news from traditional print media, TV, podcasts and
social media.
One drew laughs when she said one news source was John Oliver, the
comedian and political commentator.
"Is that news?" Stein asked her.
"Better than most," she responded.
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U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), arrives at Federal Court, for
his bribery trial in connection with an alleged corrupt relationship
with three New Jersey businessmen, in New York City, U.S., May 14,
2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Prosecutors and defense lawyers each have a right to excuse a
limited number of prospective jurors from the trial. A jury will be
seated after they exercise those challenges.
During earlier questioning, several people in the jury pool
suggested possible bias toward or against law enforcement.
A few others suggested they might have difficulty accepting
testimony from cooperating government witnesses who had pleaded
guilty to crimes, like Uribe, even after Stein called using such
witnesses "perfectly legal."
Stein asked prospective jurors if they knew any of the more than 350
people, including several U.S. senators, whose names might be
mentioned during the trial.
The judge emphasized the importance of finding fair juries.
"There are many countries where people don't have a right to have a
jury of their peers to sit in judgment of them," Stein said. "The
system will only work if people are fair and honest and impartial."
SETBACK FOR MENENDEZ
FBI agents who searched the Menendezes' home in June 2022 found much
of the cash stashed inside clothing, closets and a safe, prosecutors
said.
After jurors were dismissed for the day, Stein handed Menendez a
setback by ruling that a psychiatrist could not testify that the
senator routinely stored cash in his home because of a "fear of
scarcity."
Defense lawyers said storing cash was a response to the Cuban
government's seizing his family's assets before he was born, and his
father's committing suicide after Menendez stopped paying his
gambling debts.
But the judge said the psychiatrist's disclosures and proposed
testimony "just doesn't stand up" under a federal rule governing
testimony by expert witnesses.
Menendez, a senator since 2006, has suggested he would try if
acquitted to win a fourth full Senate term.
But recent polls of voters in Democratic-leaning New Jersey show
overwhelming disapproval of Menendez's job performance, suggesting
that any reelection bid would be a long shot.
Menendez has resisted calls to resign from across the political
spectrum, but gave up leadership of the powerful Senate Foreign
Relations Committee after his indictment in September.
The senator was also tried in a bribery case in 2017, but that case
ended in a mistrial.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by David
Gregorio and Alistair Bell)
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