NEW YORK — A jury in New York City is expected to resume deliberations Tuesday in the bribery trial of Senator Bob Menéndezthe New Jersey Democrat accused of accepting gold and cash to use his political influence to help three businessmen and the Egyptian government.
Menéndez, 70, insists he is innocent. He faces 16 criminal charges that accuse him of multiple corrupt acts, including interfering in criminal investigations to protect his associates and helping one of them negotiate with U.S. agricultural regulators. He is also accused of serving as a foreign agent for Egypt.
The senator is on trial along with two New Jersey businessmen. All three defendants pleaded not guilty. A third pleaded guilty before trial and testified against Menendez and other businessmen.
Menendez’s wife, Nadine, is also accused in the case, although her trial has been delayed while she recovers from breast cancer surgery.
In a 2022 raid on the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home where Menendez lived with his wife, FBI agents confiscated gold bars worth nearly $150,000 and more than $480,000 in cash, some of it stuffed into boots. and jackets printed with the senator’s name.
Menendez expressed some hope as he left court on Monday that the jury was carefully reviewing the evidence in its deliberations. In two separate notes, the jury raised questions about the charges, including asking, in one case, whether unanimity was needed to acquit “on a single charge.”
“It’s obvious that the government’s case is not as simple as they made it seem,” Menéndez said before repeating himself. “It’s not as simple as they made it out to be. The jury is out on that.
During closing arguments Last week, lawyers spent more than 15 hours asking jurors to carefully study the evidence.
Prosecutors cited several cases in which they said Menéndez helped businesspeople. And they argued that his efforts to send $99 million worth of munitions by helicopter to Egypt, along with cozy communications with senior Egyptian officials, showed that he was serving Egypt’s interests as an agent.
Menendez Lawyers insisted that the senator never accepted bribes and that the actions he took to benefit businesspeople were the type of tasks expected of a public official. His lawyers added that he was simply carrying out foreign responsibilities expected in his role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he was forced to resign after the charges were brought.
Menéndez announced he has been planning to run for re-election this year as an independent for a few weeks now.
