DAY FOUR
Bob Menendez seized control of the news cycle on the fourth day of his federal corruption trial in Lower Manhattan, announcing that his wife, Nadine, has breast cancer.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The FBI agent who executed a June 2022 search warrant at the Englewood Cliffs home of Bob and Nadine Menendez detailed an amazing haul of cash and gold bars inside their bedroom closet as the government’s narrator du jour. Attorneys for co-defendants Wael Hana and Fred Daibes say they gave the senator and his wife gifts, not bribes. And Bob Menendez’s lawyer continued to suggest that the closet belonged to his wife and he never went in there.
DAYS SINCE THE INDICTMENT: 237
DAYS SINCE MENENDEZ’S LAST CRIMINAL TRIAL ENDED: 2,373
DAYS UNTIL THE NEW JERSEY FILING DEADLINE: 19
Menendez is not running in the June Democratic primary but has not ruled out running as an independent if he’s acquitted.
MISSED VOTES: 9
Menendez missed three votes on Thursday , including one to confirm a federal judge and to another to invoke cloture on a Biden judicial nominee.
And in case you’re keeping track: it’s been 43 Years and 15 Days since a United States Senator from New Jersey was last convicted of accepting a bribe.
* Menendez issued a statement on Thursday morning on the medical condition of his wife, Nadine: “As a result of constant press inquiries and reporters following my wife, she has asked me to disclose her medical condition. Nadine is suffering from Grade 3 breast cancer, which will require her to have mastectomy surgery. We are of course, concerned about the seriousness and advanced stage of the disease. She will require follow-up surgery and possibly radiation treatment. We hope and pray for the best results. We ask the press and the public to give her the time, space, and privacy to deal with this challenging health condition as she undergoes surgery and recovery.”
* Andy Kim’s U.S. Senate campaign is fundraising off the trial: “Bob Menendez has clearly betrayed the trust of New Jersey voters, and while his guilt will be decided in the courts in the coming months, it’s clear that he is not fit to remain as our Senator … We know that Senator Menendez is unfit to serve our state – but that isn’t stopping him. He’s still preparing to run as an Independent and could launch his campaign while being tried in court.”
GOOGLED IT: A KILO OF GOLD IS WORTH $77,337.27
— Menendez Jurors See the Gold Bars at the Heart of a Bribery Case from the New York Times’ Benjamin Weiser and Maia Coleman: “With the corruption trial of Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey underway on Thursday, a prosecutor handed a juror in the first row of the jury box a plastic bag containing an object at the heart of the government’s case: a gold bar that glinted under the courtroom lights. One by one, jurors held the bag, turning it over in their hands and feeling its weight before passing it to their neighbor — the jury’s first tangible exposure to evidence prosecutors say was a bribe paid to Mr. Menendez, 70, and his wife. The prosecutor, Lara Pomerantz, soon handed jurors another bag containing several gold bars. But before she could hand over a third, the judge, Sidney H. Stein, said the jury ‘has gotten a feel for the weight of gold.’”
IT’S MY CLOSET AND I’LL CRY IF I WANT TO
— Menendez says wife, a co-defendant in corruption case, has cancer from the Washington Post’s Salvador Rizzo: “Aristotelis Kougemitros testified that the search team’s initial plan was to lay out all the cash they found in the Englewood Cliffs, N.J., residence and photograph it with serial numbers visible. That soon became untenable, he said, so he decided the cash would be seized as potential evidence of bribery. The FBI sent two more agents equipped with cash-counting machines. The search team found $100,000 in a Burberry drawstring bag, which the agent opened and displayed in court to a rapt jury and judge. The FBI also seized $100,000 in a brown paper bag, $95,000 in a yellow plastic bag, $67,300 in five jackets, $33,220 in a small black duffel bag, $7,500 in a reddish-brown boot, and tens of thousands of dollars more in envelopes found in several rooms. All told, Kougemitros said, the agents seized more than $486,000, as well as 11 one-ounce gold bars and two one-kilogram ingots.”
HI-HO, THE DERRY-O! THE MOUSE TAKES THE CHEESE
— Gold bars in baggies and cash crammed in boots: Prosecutors detail Menendez’s hoarded riches from New Jersey Monitor’s Dana DiFilippo: “Peek into Sen. Bob Menendez’s closets and basement, and you’ll learn he’s secretly a slob, with his and his wife’s belongings strewn around as if a typhoon just blew through… The closet in question became a point of debate, with Kougemitros insisting investigators found Menendez’s navy blazer and men’s ties hanging inside the closet, suggesting it was a shared space. But Adam Fee, a Menendez attorney, pushed back on cross-examination, countering that the blazer was hanging on the back of the master bedroom door, not inside the closet, which he said was Nadine’s alone. The men’s ties? They belonged to a teenager who used to live in the home, Fee said, pointing to the skulls and cheese-eating mice dotting several ties. Nadine Menendez had two children from a previous marriage, including a son named Andre.”
NO GEORGE NORCROSS CLOSET CONSPIRACY THEORY — YET
— At NJ Sen. Bob Menendez’s trial, jury gets a closer look at $486K in gold bars and cash from Gothamist’s Nancy Solomon: “By late in the afternoon, defense attorney Adam Fee, representing Bob Menendez, began his cross-examination — laying the groundwork for part of their strategy. He said the cash and gold bars found in a bedroom closet belonged to Nadine Menendez, and that the senator never went into that closet. The prosecutor had shown photos of the closet, and Kousemitros noted it had both men’s and women’s clothing. There was a blue jacket with the senator’s handwritten notes about a Senate Democratic Caucus meeting in the pocket, and a row of ties hung on the inside of the closet door. But Fee grilled Kousemitros, zooming into the closet photo to reveal that the blue suit jacket might have actually been hanging on the bedroom door, outside the closet.”
GIFTS, NOT BRIBES
— Gifts not bribes, Egyptian-American businessmen claim in Menendez corruption trial from Courthouse News Service’s Josh Russell: “Menendez’s two co-defendants in the trial, New Jersey businessman Wael Hana and real estate tycoon Fred Daibes, both insisted in their respective opening arguments that federal prosecutors will be unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any items of value were exchanged for any political favors from the Cuban-American senator. Hana’s attorney Lawrence Lustberg told jurors Thursday that the criminal charges against Hana are an example of “guilt by association” because of his longtime friendship with the senator’s wife, Nadine. ‘Here, the acts at issue are innocent because, as you’ll see, there was never a time when Wael Hana provided things of value to Senator Menendez, or through his girlfriend — and later, wife Nadine — in exchange for an official action,’ Lustberg said. ‘It just didn’t happen.’ Lustberg said Nadine Menendez and Hana cared for each other “like brother and sister,” which included a practice of gift-giving and fine dining that grew lopsided as Hana’s business endeavors became more successful. ‘They supported each other emotionally and, at times, financially,’ he said.
ADVOCACY, NOT CONSPIRACY
— Jurors see gold bars in Bob Menendez bribery trial from CBS News’ Caitlin Yilek, Kathryn Watson and Nathalie Nives: “Defense lawyer Lawrence Lustberg, arguing on Hana’s behalf, accused prosecutors of “criminalizing friendships.” He portrayed Hana as assumed by the government to be guilty by association with Daibes and Uribe. Referencing several dinners including Hana, Nadine and Bob Menendez and Egyptian officials, Lustberg said that while the government has tried to paint the relationship between Hana and the couple as a conspiracy — accusing Hana of trying to tempt the senator to commit official acts on behalf of a foreign country during these dinners — Lustberg described the dinners as advocating for one’s native country through elected officials.”
WAEL HANA TO HOST THE APPRENTICE
— Businesspeople do not dispute giving gold, cash to Menendezes — but say they were ‘gifts’ from POLITICO’s Daniel Han and Ry Rivard: “Lustberg disputed prosecutors’ claims that Hana gave Nadine Menendez a “sham job” as a consultant at his halal certification company, IS EG Halal, to collect bribes. Nadine Menendez received three checks of $10,000 each before Hana ‘fired her,’ Lustberg said, for poor performance. “She didn’t work, … she wanted something for nothing,’ Lustberg said of Nadine Menendez, adding that the funds were ‘not exactly exorbitant.’”
FRED DAIBES’ SIDE
— Sen. Bob Menendez reveals his wife has breast cancer as his trial focuses on FBI raid of his home from the Associated Press’ Mike Catalini and Larry Neumeister: “Attorney Cesar De Castro, representing Daibes, told jurors the case was about relationships and prosecutors were trying to exploit facts about a three-decade friendship between the senator and Daibes to claim crimes occurred. He said they will conclude his client was not guilty.”
* Senior senator and criminal defendant: The strange twin identity of Bob Menendez
* Jurors in Menendez trial hear first witness, handle gold bars
* Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife being treated for breast cancer as he stands trial on corruption charges
* Who is Nadine Menendez? Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife is at center of corruption allegations