DAY EIGHTEEN

Bob Menendez’s lawyers spent the day trying to portray the government’s witness, Jose Uribe, as a liar in a bid to refute his testimony that he bribed the three-term U.S. Senator from New Jersey with a new Mercedes-Benz. He answered more than 75 questions by saying he didn’t recall.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein would not allow Menendez’s lawyers to ask Uribe about some of his past, including his behavior at strip clubs, victims of his failed insurance business, and his failure to pay child support.

DAYS SINCE THE INDICTMENT: 262

DAYS SINCE MENENDEZ’S LAST CRIMINAL TRIAL ENDED: 2,397

MISSED VOTES: 23
Bob Menendez missed a vote to invoke cloture on President Biden’s nomination of David Rosner to serve on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

And in case you’re keeping track: it’s been 43 Years and 39 Days since a United States Senator from New Jersey was last convicted of accepting a bribe.

LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE
—Man Who Said He Bribed Menendez Is Called a ‘Sophisticated Liar’ from New York Times’ Tracey Tully and Benjamin Weiser: “For days, as the government’s star witness was testifying against him, Senator Robert Menendez offered much the same comment each time he exited his bribery trial in Manhattan: ‘Wait for the cross and find the truth.’ On Tuesday, that cross-examination began with a blistering volley of questions aimed at undermining the testimony of Jose Uribe, a disgraced insurance broker who pleaded guilty in March to conspiring to bribe Mr. Menendez with a Mercedes-Benz and is cooperating with federal prosecutors. “You lied to customers?’ Adam Fee, one of Mr. Menendez’s lawyers, asked Mr. Uribe. “You lied to a bank?’ he added. “You lied to the federal government?’ he continued. Mr. Uribe, 57, acknowledged that he had lied to all three, leading Mr. Fee to call him a “sophisticated liar” who was willing to put his family members in legal jeopardy to cover up his crimes.”

TRY TO REMEMBER THAT KIND OF SEPTEMBER
— Menendez team grills government star witness Jose Uribe on past crimes from Washington Post’s Salvador Rizzo: “He repeatedly couldn’t recall events. He conceded filing fraudulent documents with a government agency and a pandemic recovery program. And when an attorney for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) hammered chief prosecution witness Jose Uribe about his past crimes, he admitted to a long trail of lies… As the only witness expected to testify that Menendez and Arslanian agreed to a corrupt exchange — the Mercedes in exchange for the senator using his influence to quash criminal investigations in New Jersey — Uribe’s credibility is sure to be a central question in jury deliberations.”

THE MATT O’DONNELL OF THE INSURANCE BIZ
— Menendez defense team blasts prosecution’s star witness as ‘a very good liar’ from New Jersey Monitor’s Dana DeFilippo: “Uribe’s career in the insurance industry should have ended in 2011, when he pleaded guilty to insurance fraud and theft by deception for defrauding customers of his company Inter-America Insurance. But after he lost his license and shuttered Inter-America, he started another insurance business, Phoenix Risk Management, and installed his son Omar Contreras, and later his daughter’s friend Ana Peguero, as the licensed brokers and firm owners, even though he continued to run it, he testified. Phoenix was one of five companies Uribe ran, and he put his relatives and friends in charge of most of them, he testified. That allowed him to avoid paying taxes, he agreed under cross-examination. He also admitted he invented a phony tax preparer and submitted fake income figures to secure a pandemic-era small business loan he didn’t qualify for. He fudged documents to cover his crimes … ‘The activities are, in fact, crimes,’ Solano said.”

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
— Key witness at bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez faces grueling day of cross-examination from Associated Press’ Larry Neumeister: “Attorney 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 that he was no longer licensed to run a company .. Even as Lustberg and attorney Adam Fee, representing Menendez, sometimes raised their voices when they asked questions, Uribe kept his composure while deflecting some questions and disputing claims by Fee that he had lied on the witness stand on Friday and Monday.”

SOLANO HEARD FROM
— Menendez attorneys grill star witness in bribery trial about alleged payoffs from CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger: “On cross-examination Tuesday, an attorney for Menendez co-defendant Wael Hana sought to undermine Uribe’s testimony … The lawyer, Ricardo Solano, asked Uribe if it was ‘fair to say when in trouble, you lie to get away with it?’ Uribe responded, ‘I have lied in the past,’ adding he has taken what he sees as ‘necessary steps to protect my family.”’ Solano drilled down: ‘Does that include lying?’ Uribe said that it did. ‘I have in the past, to protect my family,’ he said.

JERRY, IT’S NOT A LIE IF YOU BELIEVE IT
— Key witness accused of paying bribes to Sen. Menendez faces cross-examination from News 12’s Chris Keating: “On the topic of the car he paid for, the defense has tried to suggest Uribe only gave Nadine a loan. Uribe said to this, ‘The car payment was never a loan.’ The defense said in response, ‘That was a lie, correct?’ To which Uribe responded, ‘That was never a lie.’”

* Courtroom Sketch Artist: “Menendez, far right, listens along with his two co-defendants and their attorneys during testimony Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. (Elizabeth Williams/AP)).” Click HERE.

Spread the news: