NEW YORK (AP) — The prosecution’s prize witness in U.S. senator’s bribery trial. Bob Menéndez was politely combative Tuesday as defense lawyers tried to poke holes in his testimony and portray him as a habitual liar.
José Uribe spent a third day on the witness stand, a day after telling the jury that Menendez, a Democrat, was credited in 2020 with preventing New Jersey state investigations from affecting his insurance business.
Prosecutors say Menendez used his power as a senator to help three New Jersey businessmen over five years, starting in 2018, in exchange for bribes in the form of gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and a Mercedes-Benz.
Menendez, 70, looked forward to the interrogation, saying on different occasions as he left the courtroom in recent days that the truth would be revealed when defense lawyers began working against Uribe.
Defense lawyers have repeatedly tried to undermine Uribe’s credibility, highlighting crimes Uribe confessed to when he pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy and bribery charges. At that time, he agreed to testify against Menendez and two other businessmen, all of whom pleaded not guilty before the month-long trial.
Lawyer Lawrence Lustberg, representing businessman Wael Hana, repeatedly confronted Uribe with lies he had told to protect and build his insurance companies, even after a previous criminal conviction meant he was no longer licensed to run a company.
“I will say that I have lied in the past,” Uribe said.
Although Lustberg and attorney Adam Fee, representing Menendez, sometimes raised their voices when asked questions, Uribe maintained his composure as he deflected some questions and disputed Fee’s claims that he had lied on the witness stand on Friday and Monday. .
“No, I didn’t do that, sir,” Uribe said.
At times, the lawyers appeared to be able to elicit answers from Menéndez that differed from his previous testimony.
For example, Uribe told a prosecutor on Monday that he hoped to avoid any prison time as a result of his cooperation. But asked repeatedly Tuesday by Lustberg about the purpose of his testimony and work on behalf of the government, he said he just wanted to ensure he received less than the 95 years in prison the charges could carry.
Even Judge Sidney H. Stein, who would likely sentence Uribe at a later date, addressed the question of what Uribe hoped to achieve by admitting crimes and cooperating.
“My goal is to do better for myself by getting a better sentence,” Uribe responded.
During a break with the jury out of the room, the judge told the defense attorneys that he would not let them ask Uribe about a car accident, his failure to pay child support for a period of time, his history relating to what the judge described. just like “strip clubs” and his failure to pay some credit card bills for 14 years.
Lustberg said he wanted to use the information about “strip clubs” to counter Uribe’s portrayal of himself as “a choirboy.”
“With all the crimes he’s confessed to, I don’t think that’s really his problem,” the judge responded.
Lustberg also argued that Uribe’s failure to pay child support at one point would show jurors that his repeated claims that he was devoted to his family were not always true.
Uribe testified that he provided a $15,000 down payment in 2019 for a Mercedes-Benz to Menendez’s girlfriend and arranged monthly car payments from 2019 through 2022 in exchange for Menendez’s efforts to ensure his company was not affected by the criminal investigations. of a transportation company in New Jersey. belonging to his friend.
He said Hana told him Menendez could help resolve the legal issues in exchange for $200,000 to $250,000. Uribe said Tuesday that he never contributed any money to the $120,000 others ended up paying Menendez.
