NEW YORK (AP) — Jury deliberations are expected to resume Monday at Senator Bob Menendez bribery trial In New York City.
A jury that began deliberations on Friday with three hours of work is scheduled to resume in the morning in Manhattan federal court. The New Jersey Democrat’s corruption trial is entering its 10th week.
Menendez, 70, has denied allegations that he was involved in a bribery scheme from 2018 to 2023 to benefit three New Jersey businessmen, including serving as a foreign agent for the government of Egypt.
He and two businessmen who allegedly paid him bribes in gold and cash have pleaded not guilty.
As he left court Friday, Menendez told reporters, “I have faith in God and the jury.”
Last week, lawyers spent more than 15 hours delivering closing arguments by encouraging the jury to carefully analyze hundreds of exhibits and hours of testimony.
Prosecutors placed great emphasis in their closing arguments on nearly $150,000 in gold bars and more than $480,000 in cash seized from Menendez’s home during an FBI raid in 2022. They say the valuables were bribe proceeds.
They also insisted that there were multiple ways in which Menéndez appeared to serve as an agent of Egypt.
Menendez Lawyers insisted that the three-term senator never accepted bribes and that the actions he took to benefit businesspeople were the type of tasks expected of a public official.
They said his actions to help expedite $99 million in military helicopter ammunition shipments to Egypt, while other communications he had with Egyptian officials were also part of his work as a senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. , a position he was forced to give up after the charges were announced last fall.
Menéndez announced he has been planning to run for re-election this year as an independent for a few weeks now.
