DAY THIRTY-ONE

For better or for worse, Bob Menendez could learn his fate soon as his federal corruption trial is close to winding up. Menendez’s lawyers attacked the integrity of the government’s case, saying they haven’t proven the allegations against a man who was once one of the most powerful people in the United States Senate. The trial began on May 13.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: After Fred Daibes’ lawyer finishes his summation on Thursday morning, federal prosecutors will offer their rebuttal, followed by jury instructions by U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein. After that, it’s up to the jurors, who could start deliberating as early as tomorrow. Nobody knows how long it will take.

DAYS SINCE THE INDICTMENT: 291

DAYS SINCE MENENDEZ’S LAST CRIMINAL TRIAL ENDED: 2,426

MISSED VOTES: 43
Menendez missed four votes on Wednesday.

To refresh your recollection: in Bob Menendez’s 2017 corruption trial, the jury deliberated for four days before declaring themselves a hung jury. Ten of the twelve jurors (83%) thought Menendez was innocent. The judge declared a mistrial, the Justice Department dropped the charges, and Menendez was re-elected by eleven points against an opponent who put nearly $40 million of his own money into the race.

And in case you’re keeping track: it’s been 43 years and 68 days since a United States Senator from New Jersey was last convicted of accepting a bribe.

In Menendez’s Own Words: “We have stripped away the government’s false narratives and exposed their lies.”

Bonus Line from the Book of Fee: “It’s not as though engaging with Egypt on diplomacy is like talking to Darth Vader.”

CAN’T BEAT FEE’S LINE: A “ROLLING BLOB OF SHIFTING AND EVOLVING INFERENCES”
— Sen. Menendez lawyer asks jurors to avoid speculating when weighing corruption claims from New Jersey Monitor’s Dana DiFilippo: “Menendez attorney Adam Fee told jurors Wednesday that ‘overzealous’ prosecutors’ ‘painfully thin’ case instead requires them to speculate and make a ‘rolling blob of shifting and evolving inferences’ to believe that the senator, a Democrat, took bribes to interfere in domestic criminal matters and act in the interest of foreign officials. ‘This is not a boxing match. This is not a political debate. You don’t pick story A or story B. You don’t go with what makes more gut sense about a story you’re being told. Your oath requires you to follow the law,’ Fee said. ‘The prosecutors have to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Bob took official actions in exchange for bribes. They have not done that.’ Fee kicked off a full day of defense closing arguments at the federal courthouse in Manhattan where he and two attorneys for codefendants Wael Hana and Fred Daibes implored jurors to acquit all three men.”

PATRIOTISM > TEMPTATION
— Sen. Bob Menendez’s lawyer cites patriotism as a reason to acquit his client from Associated Press’ Larry Neumeister: “Sen. Bob Menendez’s lawyer cited patriotism as a reason to acquit his client Wednesday, telling a federal jury that it would be a ‘win for this country’ if it rejects the government’s bribery case against the Democrat… Fee said the government had failed to prove ‘that Bob’s actions were anything other than what we want our elected officials to do.’ ‘He was doing his job. He was doing it well,’ Fee added. The attorney warned jurors to resist the temptation to embrace the government’s ‘salacious story about a corrupt politician, because it’s not there.’ Then, as he finished his argument, he made an acquittal sound patriotic, telling the jury ‘the United States wins when thin cases brought by overzealous prosecutors are rejected.'”

UNITED STATES V. MENENDEZ: DID IT REALLY DIE HERE TODAY?
–– Lawyer for Menendez Calls the Bribery Case Against Him ‘Painfully Thin’ from New York Times’ Maria Cramer and Maia Coleman: “‘This case, it dies here today,’ Mr. Fee said. ‘Because they have failed to prove that very high standard that Bob’s actions were anything other than what we want our elected officials to do.’ Mr. Fee finished his marathon closing argument just before the lunchtime break, testing the patience of jurors, who had also withstood a five-hour summation from prosecutors. Jurors had arrived looking alert and refreshed on Wednesday morning, but as the closing argument went on, some appeared to grow fatigued and restless. Some fidgeted. Others looked at the clock. One juror’s eyes were closed.”

THE MONEY, IT DIDN’T ALL COME FROM BRIBES
— Menendez attorney wraps up closing arguments in senator’s federal corruption trial from CNN’s Sabrina Souza, Nicki Brown, and Kara Scannell: “Sen. Bob Menendez’s defense attorney wrapped up his closing arguments Wednesday, saying the case against the New Jersey Democrat was ‘shaky and rotten to its core.’ … ‘They want you to conclude that every dollar, every piece of gold, every item of value that you have heard a reference to in this case, must’ve been a bribe,’ he said.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, WILL HANA AND FRED DAIBES ARE ON TRIAL TOO
— ‘The United States wins’ if Menendez is acquitted, his attorney says from POLITICO’s Ry Rivard and Daniel Han: “(Jurors) also heard closing arguments on Wednesday afternoon from an attorney for Wael ‘Will’ Hana, an Egyptian businessperson accused of bribing the senator with gold and a fake job and other things for his wife; and from an attorney for Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer also accused of bribing the senator, his longtime friend, with cash and gold bars. Attorneys for the businesspeople did not dispute that gold or cash the FBI found in the Menendez home came from their clients but they said the government did not prove these were bribes and, in fact, could not show when or why the gold or cash got there. ‘You don’t bribe a close friend,’ Daibes attorney Cesar de Castro told jurors. A third New Jersey businessperson, Jose Uribe, has pleaded guilty to bribing Menendez by buying a Mercedes Benz for his wife Nadine in a scheme alleged to have involved Hana. Uribe is cooperating with federal prosecutors. Fee and Hana attorney Larry Lustberg used their closing statements to attack Uribe’s credibility and distance their clients from him.”

EACH TIME WE HAVE A QUARREL, IT ALMOST BREAKS MY HEART
— Menendez Declared His ‘Resurrection.’ Then He Fell in Love from Wall Street Journal’s Corinne Ramey: “After his first public corruption case ended in a mistrial in 2017, Sen. Bob Menendez had a message for his supporters from the steps of the Newark, N.J., courthouse: ‘Today is resurrection day.’ Instead, just weeks later, the powerful Senate Democrat started dating a glamorous woman born in Lebanon who had friends who sought the lawmaker’s influence, planting the seeds for his downfall. Now, Menendez, 70 years old, is back in a courthouse facing corruption charges tied to those new friends, with few supporters and little hope of restoring his political career.”

* Courtroom Sketch from Jane Rosenberg

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