DAY TWENTY-ONE
Reporters covering Bob Menendez’s federal corruption trial at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Federal Courthouse in Lower Manhattan had trouble returning to New Jersey after power problems at Penn Station led to massive New Jersey Transit delays. That followed a day of federal prosecutors giving jurors a specific timeline of his alleged acceptance of bribes, using text messages, photographs, and web searches. Jurors have a day off today, again, and the trial will resume on Monday.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: An FBI agent testified that they had reviewed Menendez’s internet search history since 2008 and found he’s checked the prince of gold nine times between April 2019 and May 2022.
DAYS SINCE THE INDICTMENT: 271
DAYS SINCE MENENDEZ’S LAST CRIMINAL TRIAL ENDED: 2,406
MISSED VOTES: 34
Menendez missed two votes on Thursday, including President Biden’s nomination of a U.S. Ambassador to the African Union. None of the vote tallies were close.
And in case you’re keeping track: it’s been 43 years and 48 days since a United States Senator from New Jersey was last convicted of accepting a bribe.
FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES: “We keep disproving the government’s case,” Menendez said on his way into court this morning.
CURIOUS BOB, BUT NO MAN IN THE YELLOW HAT
— Gold bars and Sen. Bob Menendez’s curiosity about their price takes central role at bribery trial from Associated Press’ Larry Neumeister: “Prosecutors showed jurors at Sen. Bob Menendez’s trial on Thursday multiple instances when he researched the value of gold as he tried to help a New Jersey businessman who authorities say bribed him with gold and cash. The evidence about the Democrat’s online searches was prominently displayed to a New York jury as prosecutors traced the history of his text messages and internet queries … The evidence is considered crucial in the government’s effort to prove that Menendez and his wife received gold bars, cash, and a luxury car from 2018 to 2022 from three New Jersey businessmen who benefited from favors Menendez allegedly delivered in return … The online searches also occurred as Menendez allegedly used his international clout to help Dabies secure a $95 million investment from a Qatari investment fund by taking actions favorable to Qatar’s government.”
THE TIME THE SHEIK’S FINANCIAL ADVISOR ALMOST RUINED THE DEAL
— Prosecutors in Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal corruption trial shift focus to Qatar from New Jersey Monitor’s Dana DiFilippo: ” Jurors heard from FBI special agent Paul Van Wie, who laid out a timeline of texts, calls, encrypted messages, and other communications that show Menendez connected Daibes with Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani, whose brother is Qatar’s emir, and Ali Al Thawadi, the sheikh’s chief of staff. The sheikh heads the largest construction and real estate company in Qatar and advises the emir on investments in the U.S., testimony showed. When the sheikh’s investment adviser learned Daibes had been federally charged in a 2018 bank fraud case and urged the sheikh to reconsider, Menendez called and met with the sheikh and other Qatari officials in what prosecutors suggested was an attempt to smooth things over. ‘I hope that this will result in the favorable and mutually beneficial agreement that you both have been engaged in discussing,’ Menendez wrote to bin Jassim in an encrypted WhatsApp message in January 2022. To sweeten the deal for the Qataris, prosecutors say Menendez shepherded a resolution praising Qatar’s humanitarian work through the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he then chaired, and issued a related press release that he forwarded to Daibes first, texts showed. ‘You might want to send it to them. I am just about to release,’ the senator told Daibes. Earlier Thursday, prosecutors focused on Menendez’s effort to derail the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s 2018 bank fraud probe of Daibes. ‘He is FIXATED on it,’ Nadine Menendez assured Daibes by text.”
LONG SHOT IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT
— Bob Menendez’s Lonely Effort to Keep His Senate Seat from The Wall Street Journal’s Jimmy Vielkind: “Bob Menendez, in a long-shot campaign to hang on to his Senate seat while under federal indictment, recently breezed through the bar of a cherry-paneled Spanish restaurant here. The New Jersey Democrat, who has been in office since 2006, and his wife personally asked patrons at Meson Español for signatures to help him get a spot on the November ballot as an independent candidate, according to people familiar with the matter. The scramble illustrated just how far the once powerful committee chairman has fallen since he was hit with corruption charges in September, and just how isolated he is in his effort to cling to power. Some political operatives have speculated Menendez’s candidacy might offer a bargaining chip as he raises money for his legal defense and faces calls for expulsion from the Senate. They also worry that his effort could hurt the party’s chances to hold an otherwise safe seat.”
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
This was updated at 8:57 AM on Friday to include the New Jersey Monitor Story.