Prosecutor Nadine Menendez, wife of New Jersey former Senator Robert Menendez, who played a central role in years of conspiracy during a federal Bribery trial on Monday at Ms. Menendez.
“They are partners of crime,” prosecutor Lara Pomerantz said of Ms. Menendez and her husband. “Partners of corruption.”
Ms. Pomerantz, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, faced the Attorney General’s Office in the southern part of New York in a simple and straightforward manner.
“They are taking action, they pay the price for the senator’s power and then sold it,” she said.
Mr. Menendez and his wife were charged in 2023 with bribery of gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and a Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for senators’ efforts to guide aid to Egypt and undermine criminal cases that threaten his allies in New Jersey.
He was sentenced to bribes and serve as a foreign government agent after a prolonged trial in Manhattan and is expected to start serving 11 years in June. Ms. Menendez’s trial was postponed after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. According to her lawyer and husband, she underwent a mastectomy and completed a reconstruction surgery less than two weeks ago.
Her trial began in a very different way than her husband’s. During Mr Menendez’s trial, the court buzzed with a team of journalists and lawyers representing Mr Menendez and his two co-defendants Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, and New Jersey businessmen were convicted.
However, on Monday, Ms. Menendez arrived at the court alone. Wearing a pink surgical mask and a grey sweater with a decorative edge, she sat most of the time in court, prosecutors, prosecutors and her attorney Barry Coburn awaiting the arrival of late jurors.
Mr. Koben’s opening speech was brief. He urged the jurors to keep in mind the claims made by the prosecutor and to review the testimony of Ms. Menandez’s evidence of “knowledge and intention.”
He said prosecutors gave “evil” descriptions of the incidents, and a “seriously inaccurate” portrait of Ms. Menendez’s role in the so-called plan.
“In this case, knowledge and intention will be absolutely, totally failed,” he said.
The trial is expected to last for more than two months. For much of last week, most of the time I sat in the jury after many candidates said they couldn’t serve that long. On the first day of the testimony, at least one juror was late, initially a 12-person jury with six substitutes, and by Monday morning, it was reduced to four alternates.
Democrat, Mr. Menanderz, the first senator to be accused of serving as a foreign government agent, had a 11-year sentence, the longest U.S. senator ever. Even before the trial, the guts of the actions detailed in his allegations made New Jersey politics subvert opponents, portraying the once powerful senator as the product of a corrupt democratic machine.
Democrat Andy Kim replaced him in the Senate, winning a seat after making Mr. Melendez’s corruption case the heart of the campaign. As part of this effort, Senator Kim Jong Il sued to abolish New Jersey’s unique main voting design, and county political leaders could provide outstanding placement for the preferred candidate for decades.
Mr. Menendez is bringing a jury verdict, and he is clearly trying to convince President Trump that former political enemies now have a common enemy: overly enthusiastic prosecutors.
Mr. Trump was in Manhattan at the same time in Manendez, and he had the right to pardon him, while former senator repeatedly labeled the president in social media posts. There is no indication that these pleads are valid.
According to the indictment, the core plot against Ms. Menendez started shortly after she and the senator began dating in February 2018.
Within a few weeks, Ms. Menendes and her long-time friend, Mr. Hana, an American citizen who immigrated from Egypt, began meeting with Egyptian officials for Mr. Menendes. The Egyptian government later granted Mr. Hana’s company, such as halal, a profitable monopoly, proving that all meat exported from the United States to Egypt had been made under Islamic law.
Mr. Menendez, 71, and Ms. Menendez, 58, got married in October 2020.
For example, halal food continued to grow, making Mr. Hana a rich man. According to the prosecutor, his company was used to bribe Ms. Menendez and her husband.
During Mr Menendez’s trial, the prosecutor was prohibited by the Constitution’s speech or debate clauses from introducing evidence directly related to the actions taken by Mr Menendez as a member of MP.
But they have no similar restrictions on their wife’s case.
In his opening speech, Ms. Pomeranz told jurors that the bribery was related to Mr. Menendes’ efforts to direct aid and weapons to Egypt, a country of “desire”.
Ms Pomerantz said Mr Menendez needed an intermediary that could “stain his hands” in a way that famous senators could not do.
In between, she said was Ms. Menendes, her husband, Egyptian officials and businessmen who had been shuttled through information and bribes among her husband seeking help to remove the criminal case, Egyptian officials and businessmen.
“Each of them brought something, each other didn’t,” Ms. Pomerantz said.
