Bob Menendez’s defense is based without the New Jersey senator testifying

NEW YORK (AP) — New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez said he chose not to testify at his trial in New York Wednesday because he believes prosecutors failed to prove “all aspects” of the bribery case against his, a decision that paved the way for closure. arguments for months.

Attorneys for the Democrats rested their case after calling more witnesses over two days to counter seven weeks of testimony and hundreds of exhibits and communications introduced by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

Menendez, 70, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold and cash from 2018 to 2022 in exchange for using his influence in the Senate to offer favors which benefits three New Jersey businessmen.

Judge Sidney H. Stein asked Menendez to rise from his seat to confirm that the decision not to testify was his alone. Menendez said that after extensive discussions with his attorneys, he decided not to take the stand.

As he left court, Menendez told reporters, “From my perspective, the government has failed to prove every aspect of its case.”

He said “giving them another chance” by taking the witness stand is “just something that doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“I expect my attorneys to produce a strong and compelling summation, deducing how the evidence came out and where it failed overall and how the jury will reach a not guilty verdict,” Menendez said before wishing reporters who followed. his car a “Happy Fourth of July”.

Two of the businessmen from whom he is accused of accepting bribes – Fred Daibes and Wael Hana – are on trial with him. A third, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty to the charges and testified against the trio during the trial.

Daibes and Hana also pleaded not guilty and had an opportunity to present a defense, although the judge told jurors that the burden was on prosecutors and a defense was not necessary. Daibes’ attorneys rested at the same time as Menendez without presenting a defense. Hana’s lawyers began presenting their case by calling one of Hana’s employees as a witness.

Prosecutors took seven weeks to present their case before resting last Friday. They provided evidence showing that Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez, served as an intermediary most of the time to connect the senator and businessmen.

Nadine Menendez, 57, who began dating the senator in 2018, has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges, but her trial has been delayed as she recovers from breast cancer surgery.

Bob Menendez’s lawyers argued that his wife hid from him financial troubles, including her inability to afford the mortgage payments on her home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, along with many of her dealings with business people. They also said she inherited the gold found in her bedroom during a 2022 FBI raid on their home.

An FBI agent testified early in the trial that he ordered the seizure of more than $486,000 in cash and more than $100,000 in gold bullion during the raid because he suspected a crime might be taking place.

Among the witnesses called by Menendez’s lawyers was his sister, Caridad Gonzalez, 80, who told the jury that her family members routinely stashed large amounts of cash at their home after Menendez’s parents fled from Cuba in 1951 with only the money they had secretly stashed away. the compartment of a grandfather clock.

“It’s normal. It’s a Cuban thing,” she said.

Bob Menendez was born after the family arrived in Manhattan.

Menendez has pleaded not guilty to bribery, fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. After the charges were announced in September, he was forced to step down from his powerful position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He resisted calls to resign from the Senate and a month ago filed papers to run for re-election as an independent.

Prosecutors say Daibes delivered gold bars and cash to Menendez and his wife to get the senator’s help in a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund, prompting Menendez to act favorably to the Qatari government .

They also say Menendez did things to benefit Egyptian officials in exchange for bribes from Hana, as the businessman secured a valuable deal with the Egyptian government to certify that imported meat meets Islamic dietary requirements.

A previous corruption prosecution of Menendez on unrelated charges ended in a deadlocked jury in 2017.

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This story has been edited to clarify that Menendez is accused of accepting, not paying, bribes.

Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press