DAY ELEVEN
For the first time, jurors heard a communication between U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and a U.S. government official about the Halal meat deal that didn’t go through his wife, Nadine. The trial will resume on Monday.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: A top U.S. Department of Agriculture official testified that he received a call from Bob Menendez telling him to “stop interfering with my constituent” after he raised questions about a sweetheart deal for co-defendant Wael Hana to get an exclusive Halal meat contract.
WHO IS TED MCKINNEY? The government’s witness in Bob Menendez’s federal corruption trial was nominated as the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs by President Donald Trump in 2017; he served until the final day of the Trump Administration. The U.S. Senate confirmed him on a voice vote. Before that, he served as director of the Indiana Department of Agriculture under Gov. Mike Pence. McKinney spent 33 years working for Dow AgroSciences and Elanco.
DAYS SINCE THE INDICTMENT: 252
DAYS SINCE MENENDEZ’S LAST CRIMINAL TRIAL ENDED: 2,388
DAYS UNTIL THE NEW JERSEY FILING DEADLINE: 4
Menendez is not running in the June Democratic primary but has not ruled out running as an independent if he’s acquitted. He is circulating petitions in advance of next week’s filing deadline.
MISSED VOTES: 14
No votes today. Most senators remained in their home state after the Memorial Day weekend.
And in case you’re keeping track: it’s been 43 Years and 30 Days since a United States Senator from New Jersey was last convicted of accepting a bribe.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
Bob Menendez to CBS News’ Christine Sloan on the eleventh day of his federal corruption trial: “You know, you wait for the cross, you’re going to find the truth.”
HOW TO TALK TO A FARMER, JERSEY STYLE
— Former U.S. Agriculture Official Says Menendez Told Him to ‘Stop Interfering’ from New York Times’ Tracey Tully and Benjamin Weiser: “In May 2019, a top official in the U.S. Department of Agriculture got a call on his cellphone from Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey. The conversation was brief, the senator was curt, and the message was clear: “Stop interfering with my constituent.” Ted A. McKinney, then the under secretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, testified about the exchange … It was the first time that jurors had heard directly from a witness who attributed conduct to the senator that is central to the government’s claim in an indictment that alleges a sprawling bribery conspiracy: that Mr. Menendez was willing to flex his political muscle to win favorable treatment for allies … As he testified, Mr. McKinney was unambivalent about what he saw as the purpose of the call by Mr. Menendez, then the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. ‘I felt he was telling me to stand down,’ Mr. McKinney said, ‘and stop doing all of the things that we were doing.’”
MONOPOLY MONEY
— Former USDA official testifies in federal corruption trial that Sen. Menendez warned him to ‘stop interfering’ from CNN’s Sabrina Souza: “McKinney was a much-anticipated witness in the trial… McKinney testified that he was very concerned with the monopoly decision, as IS EG Halal had no experience in the industry and the transition, which would happen in only a week, would affect US competition and Egyptian consumers. ‘We had never seen or heard anything like this in my history in the agriculture industry and in the foreign agricultural services,’ McKinney testified. On May 1, 2019, the date that had been set by Egypt to go live with the monopoly, McKinney said he called the Egyptian ambassador to the US to find a solution that would not disrupt the flow of exports entirely. After not hearing back from the ambassador, McKinney elevated the urgency and emailed Mona Mehrez, an Egyptian deputy minister of agriculture, referring to the monopoly as a ‘draconian decision.’
EGYPT COULD HAVE JUST SAID NO
— Ex-official says Sen. Menendez told him to ‘stop interfering’ with friend’s Egypt deal from New Jersey Monitor’s Sophie Nieto-Munoz: “Prosecutors allege Hana bribed Menendez so Hana could secure the export deal with Egypt. To get Egypt on board, authorities allege, Menendez agreed to release millions in military aid to Egypt and reveal sensitive information about staffing at the American embassy in Cairo … Menendez attorney Adam Fee, during his cross-examination of McKinney, offered a different and more banal explanation for why Egypt was looking to work with a different halal certifier. Fee noted that Egyptian officials had expressed concerns that non-halal meat was mixed with halal meat before it was shipped from America to other countries. ‘Was the Egyptian government able to reject a halal certifier as inadequate?’ Fee asked. ‘They have that right,’ McKinney said.”
* Mountain of Messages Dominates Week 2 in Menendez Trial
* Democrat senator and wife’s bad finances laid bare in bribery trial
* Menendez told top USDA official to ‘stop interfering’ with company accused of offering bribes