DAY FIFTEEN
Former New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal told jurors that he believed U.S. Senator Bob Menendez sought to influence his office’s prosecution of a man connected to Jose Uribe, the man who bought the senator’s wife a new Mercedes.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Grewal’s testimony might be the most devastating yet for Menendez; so was Grewal quoting Andrew Bruck telling him after the meeting, “Whoa, that was gross.” Uribe testifies on Friday.
DAYS SINCE THE INDICTMENT: 258
DAYS SINCE MENENDEZ’S LAST CRIMINAL TRIAL ENDED: 2,394
MISSED VOTES: 22
There were no recorded votes in the U.S. Senate on Thursday
And in case you’re keeping track: it’s been 43 Years and 36 Days since a United States Senator from New Jersey was last convicted of accepting a bribe.
THE SUMMONING OF GURBIR
— Ex-New Jersey Attorney General Describes Uneasy Meeting With Menendez from New York Times Tracey Tilly and Benjamin Weiser: “The September 2019 meeting was brief — and awkward. Senator Robert Menendez had summoned New Jersey’s attorney general, Gurbir S. Grewal, to his office in Newark. Mr. Grewal, testifying Thursday at the senator’s federal bribery trial in Manhattan, explained that he arrived with one of his top deputies, Andrew Bruck. After an exchange of pleasantries, the senator expressed displeasure with the way Hispanic defendants tied to the trucking industry were being treated by prosecutors in Mr. Grewal’s insurance fraud unit. Mr. Grewal said he asked if the senator’s concerns related to a specific matter pending before his office. When he was told yes, he immediately cut the conversation short .. After leaving the building, Mr. Grewal and Mr. Bruck paused before climbing into a waiting car. ‘Andrew said to me, ‘Whoa, that was gross,’ Mr. Grewal testified.”
MURPHY ALREADY DIDN’T CARE FOR HIM BY 2019
— Ex-New Jersey A.G. shares a ‘gross’ story of strong-arming at Menendez’s corruption trial from New Jersey Monitor’s Dana DiFilippo: “ Testimony on Wednesday showed that Menendez planned to talk to Grewal about Elvis Parra, a trucking company owner who was scheduled to stand trial for insurance fraud in April 2019. Jose Uribe, a failed insurance broker, wanted the senator to persuade state authorities ‘to kill and stop all investigation’ in Parra’s case, in which an Uribe-linked insurance company… was implicated, according to texts and other evidence. In exchange, testimony showed, Uribe spent tens of thousands of dollars to help Menendez’s wife, Nadine, buy a new Mercedes-Benz convertible. The alleged bribes didn’t work. Parra eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve non-custodial probation and pay restitution, while Grewal said he did ‘nothing’ in response to Menendez’s alleged meddling. (Grewal) acknowledged that Menendez made no ‘explicit ask’ during the meeting or phone calls and was ‘polite’ throughout their interactions… Grewal told jurors the meeting and the two brief phone calls that preceded it concerned him because Menendez, a Democrat, was a close political ally of Gov. Phil Murphy at that time. ‘That was my concern, of sort of being on his bad side,’ Grewal said of the governor.
BREAKING NEWS: GURBIR GREWAL WASN’T PLAYING GOLF AT RIDGEWOOD COUNTRY CLUB ON THURSDAY
— ‘Whoa, that was gross,’ former NJ attorney general recalls after meeting with Menendez from POLITICO’s Ry Rivard. “Menendez defense attorney Avi Weitzman questioned Grewal about his memory. In initial pretrial interviews with federal prosecutors about the interactions with Menendez, Grewal did not initially recall an earlier phone call he had with Menendez in January 2019. But on the stand, Grewal had vivid recollection of the way the call came about and is among the most credible witnesses a prosecutor can hope to have on the stand. Grewal, aside from being a former state attorney general, now leads the enforcement division of the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.”
THE PHONE CALL
— ‘That was gross’: Former New Jersey AG says Menendez tried to meddle in ally’s case from CNN’s Gregory Krieg, Sabrina Souza and Lauren del Valle: “Grewal, who left office in 2021, told the court that the initial call had caught him off-guard. He had no personal relationship with the senator, who called him on his private line after obtaining the number through Grewal’s cousin. After some small talk, Grewal said, Menendez pivoted to the matter he would bring up again in his office – with no one present but him and the two visitors – on September 6, 2019. On both occasions, Grewal testified, he told Menendez that the defense lawyer in the case, Michael Critchley, should be the one to raise any issues – and that if he did, they should be directed not to him but to the prosecution team or judge.”
THIS WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO MAKE A COMMENT ON CHRIS CHRISTIE’S TIME AS A PROSECUTOR
— Ex-N.J. attorney general links Sen. Menendez to pressure on criminal case from Washington Post’s Salvador Rizzo: “Federal prosecutors say a New Jersey businessman was desperate to ‘kill’ the case, going so far as to finance a Mercedes-Benz convertible for the senator’s then-girlfriend after being assured it would disappear … ‘These are long-held norms, that elected officials should not be talking to prosecutors about pending criminal matters,’ (Gurbir Grewal) testified. He also said he didn’t know the case and ‘didn’t want to know the case. I just wanted to move on from the conversation.’”
NOT EXACTLY A MIC DROP FOR AVI
— Ex-NJ attorney general testifies Sen. Bob Menendez confronted him twice over a pending criminal case from Associated Press’ Larry Neumeister: “On cross-examination, Menendez defense attorney Avi Weitzman elicited from Grewal that the senator was ‘extremely polite and respectful in all of our interactions.’ When Weitzman asked him if Menendez asked him to look into the matter or threatened to ‘haul you before Congress,’ Grewal chuckled and said no such conversation occurred. ‘I wasn’t afraid of retribution,” Grewal said, adding that Menendez ‘just moved on’ with small talk when the attorney general shut down the inquiry. ‘He did not pressure me.’”