DAY ONE
At a federal courthouse in Manhattan, the corruption trial of Bob Menendez, the senior United States Senator from New Jersey, began this morning. He’s accused of accepting cash, gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, payments on a home mortgage, a low-show job for the senator’s wife, Nadine (she’s also been indicted), and other gifts in exchange for using his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to helping his alleged bribers obtain lucrative contracts, interfering with their criminal investigations, and advocating for U.S. aid and weapons sales to Egypt.
Here’s what you need to know: U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein spent most of today in private interviews with potential jurors. He dismissed around three dozen of them, with another 100 asked to return tomorrow morning.
Jurors come from the Southern District of New York, which includes Manhattan, Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan counties. To put the size of the Southern District into perspective, it is about 2.5 hours by car from the historic Long Eddy Saloon in Fremont, New York, to the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Federal Courthouse in Lower Manhattan.
DAYS SINCE THE INDICTMENT: 234
DAYS SINCE MENENDEZ’S LAST CRIMINAL TRIAL ENDED: 2,370
DAYS UNTIL THE NEW JERSEY FILING DEADLINE: 22
Menendez is not running in the June Democratic primary but has not ruled out running as an independent if he’s acquitted.
In case you’re keeping track: it’s been 43 Years and 12 Days since a United States Senator from New Jersey was last convicted of accepting a bribe.
NOT THE MET GALA
No Jurors Seated on First Day of Menendez Corruption Trial from New York Times’ Tracey Tully and Maia Coleman: “Just before 8:30 a.m., Mr. Menendez walked through security, wearing a dark blue suit and striped red tie, his Senate pin visible on his lapel… The jurors, seated eight to a row, wore a sea of colors and patterns — oranges and greens, plaids and stripes — that contrasted sharply with the staid blue and black suits of the defendants and their lawyers.”
FINGER TAPPER
Jury Selection begins in bribery case against Sen. Bob Menendez in New York from NBC New York’s Julia Lester, Jonathan Dienst and Dareh Gregorian: “Menendez, 70, sat facing forward with his hands folded across his chest, occasionally tapping his fingers together. He did not turn around when Stein asked whether any potential jurors had reasons they would not be able to serve, prompting many to raise their hands.”
GETTING OUT OF JURY DUTY IS AN AMERICAN TRADITION
Menendez trial doesn’t have a full jury yet, but he’s not the main reason why from POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: “A few would-be jurors — like a few self-described news and political junkies, an NYU film instructor, a local government official who handles contracts and a housing attorney — said they’d read enough about the case and didn’t feel they could be partial. But those kinds of would-be jurors were few and far between. Part of that has to do with Trump’s omnipresent polarization of the American political scene, while Menendez, for all his power in New Jersey and in Washington, is not a household name like even other senators who frequent the Sunday show circuit.”
JUNE IS BUSTIN’ OUT ALL OVER
No jurors chosen on first day of NJ Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal corruption trial from Priscilla DeGregory: “When the possible panelists were brought in, Stein informed them the trial involves a ‘sitting U.S. senator from the state of New Jersey’ who allegedly agreed ‘to accept bribes.’ He also told them the trial was slated to last up to seven weeks — until about the Fourth of July — prompting many to raise their hands and inform the judge they couldn’t serve for such a long period of time.”
SALOMON MELGEN NO LONGER INVOLVED IN THE SENATOR’S TRANSPORTATION NEEDS
What to know about Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial from Salvador Rizzo: “He barely said a word to his attorneys or co-defendants during the many ensuing hours, then exited shortly after 5:30 p.m. Questions from reporters were waved away as he got into a blue Honda Civic with two of those attorneys.”
SHOCKINGLY, FETTERMAN HAD SOMETHING TO SAY
The Bob Menendez trial is starting. Why his Senate colleagues don’t want to talk about it from USA Today’s Riley Beggin: “He gets his day. People are going to get to decide whether or not he’s a sleazeball, or if he is a really, really big sleazeball.”
IT’S DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN
‘They came loaded for bear; in Menendez trial from New Jersey Spotlight News’ Briana Vannozzi: “If this all sounds familiar, that’s because the senator was tried for corruption seven years ago…. the senator’s defense attorneys claimed the government has been trying to get back at Menendez ever since.”
REMINDER THAT BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S SON WAS THE GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY AND HE SIDED WITH KING GEORGE III
NJ Sen. Menendez trial casts shadow over his son Rep. Rob Menendez Jr.’s reelection fight from Daily News’ Dave Goldiner: “As jury selection began in Manhattan Monday in the corruption trial of scandal-plagued New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, his son is battling for his own political survival across the Hudson River.”
RES IPSA LOQUITOR
Sen. Bob Menendez’s trial starts and Steve Buscemi punched in NYC from NBC News’ Elizabeth Both.
* SKETCH ARTIST from Candace E. Eaton via Associated Press.
* OF COURSE THIS COMES UP IN THE NEWS FEED
