DAY THIRTY-TWO
Closing arguments in the federal corruption trial of U.S. Senator Bob Menendez took four days and U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein had just begun to charge the jury when they broke for the day. The government’s rebuttal featured an impassioned plea that jurors reject Menendez’s “blame the wife” legal strategy. When the senator’s defense attorney asked for another chance to address the jury, Stein said no.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Another delay – this time an unexpectedly long rebuttal from federal prosecutors – means that jurors likely won’t begin deliberations until sometime on Friday. Unless jurors quickly – and unanimously – agree to all eighteen criminal counts, a verdict won’t likely come until next week.
DAYS SINCE THE INDICTMENT: 292
DAYS SINCE MENENDEZ’S LAST CRIMINAL TRIAL ENDED: 2,427
DAYS SINCE MENENDEZ’S CURRENT CRIMINAL TRIAL BEGAN: 60
MISSED VOTES: 45
Menendez missed two votes on Thursday.
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 69 days since a United States Senator from New Jersey was last convicted of accepting a bribe.
Menendez the Optimist: “Looking forward to the jury getting the case tomorrow.”
PROSECUTOR ASKS JURY IF THEY THINK NADINE IS A “DIABOLICAL GENIUS”
— Jurors set to start deliberating in Sen. Menendez’s corruption trial from New Jersey Monitor’s Dana DiFilippo: “Bitter clashes between prosecutors and defense attorneys, both in written filings and in court outside jurors’ earshot, dragged out proceedings and prompted regular rebukes from the beleaguered judge. Thursday was no different, with attorneys accusing each other of “dirty tricks” during a jury break and defense attorney Adam Fee asking if he could rebut Richenthal’s rebuttal. Stein said no. Richenthal bashed defense attorneys during his rebuttal for “misstating evidence” when they offered innocent explanations during closing arguments for their clients’ actions — in short, that codefendants Wael Hana and Fred Daibes gave generous gifts to Menendez and his wife, Nadine, and that the senator in turn acted to help their businesses because they were good friends. ‘That makes no sense at all,’ Richenthal repeated of defense attorneys’ various explanations. He singled out the senator’s ‘blame-my-wife defense,’ in which he claimed he didn’t know his wife was taking money and making deals, as especially unbelievable. ‘You learned a lot about Nadine Menendez. Now, I’m not trying to make fun of her. But does she strike you as a diabolical genius who concocted a plan with Menendez’s friend and Wael Hana to dupe him for five years, including when they’re living together?’ Richenthal said. ‘Do you think she could have pulled that off if she tried?’ The senator was not a victim, as his defense team has suggested, he added. ‘He knows all about the payments. He’s taking actions. He’s part of it,’ Richenthal said.”
FROM THE REBUTTAL
— Jury to begin deliberations Friday in bribery trial of NJ Sen. Bob Menendez from Associated Press’ Larry Neumeister: “Richenthal mocked Menendez’s lawyer’s attempt to suggest that $95,000 in cash found in a plastic bag inches away from a rack of the senator’s jackets belonged to his wife, calling the claim ‘truly unbelievable.’ Cash was found stuffed in some of the jackets. He also said Menendez helped Egyptian officials get sensitive information about the number of Americans and Egyptians who worked at the U.S. embassy in Egypt — ‘devastating proof that Menendez put the interests of Egypt above the United States.’”
MAYBE THE BEST SUMMATON OF ALL
— Jury deliberations should begin Friday in Sen. Menendez bribery trial from Washington Post’s Salvador Rizzo: “The sprawling case in Manhattan federal court boils down to a key question for jurors: Was the New Jersey Democrat corrupting his office by taking bribes from three businessmen starting in 2018, as prosecutors allege? Or was it the senator’s girlfriend turned wife, Nadine Arslanian, who shook down those businessmen for cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz convertible, keeping Menendez in the dark all along, as his attorneys insist?”
DON’T FORGET ABOUT GOOD WILL HANA
— Bob Menendez corruption case heads to jury from Courthouse News Service’s Josh Russell: “(Wael) Hana’s attorney, Lawrence Lustberg … argued during closing arguments Wednesday that the company’s contract to certify U.S. meat exports was ‘totally Egypt’s call’ and therefore could not have been part of a bribery scheme with a U.S. senator. Instead, he argued the Egyptian government awarded the company status as a sole distributor because at the time, they were eager to oust Muslim Brotherhood loyalists from positions of power. Hana is a Coptic Christian, a major religious minority in Egypt.”
SPIES LIKE US: IS EMMET FITZ-HUME NOW A SENATOR?
— Why Menendez’s Meals With Egyptian Officials Worry Security Experts from New York Times’ Tracey Tully: “It was a shocking charge against one of the highest-ranking members of Congress: acting as an agent of a foreign government. Senator Robert Menendez, prosecutors said, had steered millions of dollars in aid to Egypt and toned down his rhetoric about the country’s human rights violations to lock in a lucrative side hustle for his soon-to-be wife, who had reinvented herself as an international consultant. After a two-month bribery trial in Manhattan, jurors are expected to begin deliberating Thursday on whether prosecutors have proved a complex web of conspiracy charges. But regardless of whether they render a guilty verdict, the volley of messages and photos extracted from phones seized by the F.B.I. and introduced as evidence have revealed how Egyptian intelligence officials were able to cultivate casual access to one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington.”
* Closing arguments wrap up in Sen. Menendez corruption trial; deliberations begin Friday
SENATOR ON TRIAL: DAY ONE | DAY TWO | DAY THREE | DAY FOUR | DAY FIVE | DAY SIX | DAY SEVEN | DAY EIGHT | DAY NINE | DAY TEN | DAY ELEVEN | DAY TWELVE | DAY THIRTEEN | DAY FOURTEEN | DAY FIFTEEN | DAY SIXTEEN | DAY SEVENTEEN | DAY EIGHTEEN | DAY NINETEEN | DAY NINETEEN (AND A QUARTER) | DAY TWENTY | DAY TWENTY-ONE | DAY TWENTY-TWO | DAY TWENTY-THREE | DAY TWENTY-FOUR | DAY TWENTY-FIVE | DAY TWENTY-SIX | DAY TWENTY-SEVEN | DAY TWENTY-EIGHT | DAY TWENTY-NINE | DAY THIRTY | DAY THIRTY-ONE