NEW YORK – New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez stated he determined to not testify Wednesday at his trial in New York as a result of he believes prosecutors “did not show their all sides” of the corruption case towards him, a call that trashed the way in which for. closing arguments on Monday.
The Democrats’ legal professionals wrapped up their case after calling a number of witnesses over two days to rebut seven weeks of testimony and a whole bunch of reveals and communications introduced by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. .
Menendez, 70, has pleaded not responsible to fees that he accepted a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars} in gold and silver from 2018 to 2022 in change for utilizing his affect within the Senate to curry favor supply to a few businessmen from New Jersey.
Choose Sidney H. Stein requested Menendez to stand up from his seat to substantiate that the choice to not testify was his personal. Menendez stated that after intensive discussions along with his legal professionals, he had determined to not take the stand.
Leaving courtroom, Menendez informed reporters: “From my perspective, the federal government has not been capable of show each facet of their case.
He stated “giving them one other probability” by taking the witness stand “is simply not one thing that makes any sense to me.”
“I anticipate my attorneys to offer a strong and convincing transient, to find out how the proof stood up and the place it typically failed, and the way the jury will return a verdict or not.” -guilty,” Menendez stated earlier than wishing reporters who adopted his automobile “Completely happy 4th of July.”
Two of the businessmen he’s accused of accepting bribes, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, are on trial with him. A 3rd, José Uribe, pleaded responsible to the costs and testified towards the three in the course of the trial.
Daibes and Hana additionally pleaded not responsible and got the chance to current a protection, though the choose informed the jury that the burden was on the prosecution and no protection was wanted. Daibes’ legal professionals rested similtaneously Menéndez with out offering a protection. Hana’s legal professionals started to current their case by calling one in every of Hana’s workers as a witness.
Prosecutors took seven weeks to current their case earlier than resting final Friday. They provided proof displaying that Menéndez’s spouse, Nadine Menéndez, acted as an middleman more often than not to attach the senator and the businessmen.
Nadine Menendez, 57, who started courting the senator in 2018, has pleaded not responsible to prison fees, however her trial has been postponed whereas she recovers on breast most cancers surgical procedure.
Bob Menendez’s legal professionals have argued that his spouse hid her monetary issues, together with her incapability to pay the mortgage on their Englewood Cliffs dwelling, New Jersey, together with lots of her enterprise dealings. In addition they stated he inherited gold present in his room throughout an FBI raid on his dwelling in 2022.
An FBI agent testified earlier within the trial that he ordered the seizure of greater than $486,000 in money and greater than $100,000 in gold bars in the course of the raid as a result of he suspected against the law may need been dedicated.
Among the many witnesses known as by Menendez’s legal professionals was his sister, Caridad González, 80, who informed jurors that her relations repeatedly stored giant sums of cash of their properties after Menendez’s dad and mom fled. from Cuba in 1951 with solely the cash that they had secretly hidden. Share a grandfather clock.
“It is regular. It is a Cuban factor,” he stated.
Bob Menendez was born after the household arrived in Manhattan.
Menendez has pleaded not responsible to bribery, fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and being a overseas agent in Egypt. After asserting the costs in September, he was pressured to go away his highly effective function as chairman of the Senate Overseas Relations Committee.
He has resisted calls to resign from the Senate and a month in the past filed papers to run for re-election as an impartial.
Prosecutors allege that Daibes gave Menendez and his spouse gold bars and money to get the senator’s assist with a multimillion-dollar take care of a Qatari funding fund, encouraging Menendez to work in a technique that favored the Qatari authorities.
In addition they say that Menendez did issues that benefited Egyptian officers in change for bribes from Hana, because the businessman acquired a useful contract with the Egyptian authorities to certify that meat that was launched to fulfill the necessities of the Islamic food plan.
A earlier corruption indictment towards Menendez on unrelated fees led to a deadlocked jury in 2017.
2024-07-04 03:11:46
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