(New York) The jury deliberated Friday in the federal trial in New York of influential Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, accused of corruption and using his influence to benefit business leaders in Egypt and Qatar, American media reported.
Tried with two New Jersey business leaders, while a third pleaded guilty, the 70-year-old senator has been on trial for two months on more than fifteen charges, which carry a risk of up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
His wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, on whom the senator’s lawyers have tried to pin the blame, is also being prosecuted, but must be tried separately because she needs treatment for breast cancer.
Bob Menendez is a veteran of American politics, former chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, from which he resigned over this affair, “a classic case of corruption on a grand scale,” according to the prosecution.
Between 2018 and 2023, “he put his power up for sale,” added one of Manhattan’s federal prosecutors, Paul Monteleoni, during his indictment.
The prosecutor described in detail the discoveries made by investigators during a search of the couple’s home in June 2022: $480,000 in cash in envelopes hidden in cupboards, clothes or a safe, to which was added $70,000 found in a safe belonging to Nadine Menendez, and 13 gold bars.
According to the prosecution, the Cuban-born senator interfered in the appointment of a new prosecutor in New Jersey to obtain the dismissal of charges against two of the three business leaders prosecuted in the case, Fred Daibes and José Uribe.
In a case that intertwines international influence and business relations, he is also said to have tried to influence the release of military aid to Egypt, while seeking to protect the monopoly on the import of halal meat granted by the Egyptian government to a third entrepreneur being prosecuted, Wael Hana.
Robert Menendez, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, is accused of bribery, influence peddling for the benefit of Egypt and Qatar, and acting as an agent of a foreign government.
His lawyers have denied his involvement, arguing in particular that the senator’s wife kept him away from her business affairs.
A member of the right wing of the Democratic Party, he was a fierce opponent of the normalization of American relations with Cuba, a supporter of an intransigent line towards Venezuela and China, and a defender of Israel.