Witness testimony expected to begin in Bob Menendez bribery trial

The bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey continued Thursday with opening statements for his co-defendants, New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes.

Defense lawyer Lawrence Lustberg, arguing on Hana’s behalf, accused prosecutors of “criminalizing friendships.” He portrayed Hana as assumed by the government to be guilty by association with Daibes and Jose Uribe, who is the third businessman who was indicted with Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez. Uribe pleaded guilty, however, and is cooperating with the prosecution, agreeing to testify in the case. 

Referencing several dinners including Hana, Nadine and Bob Menendez and Egyptian officials, Lustberg said that while the government has tried to paint the relationship between Hana and the couple as a conspiracy — accusing Hana of trying to tempt the senator to commit official acts on behalf of a foreign country during these dinners, Lustberg described the dinners as advocating for one’s native country through elected officials.

Wednesday’s proceedings consisted of opening statements, as the defense and prosecution offered very different portraits of the Democratic senator. Menendez, who is being tried separately from his wife, Nadine Menendez, stands accused of trading his influence and power to foreign governments and three New Jersey businessmen in a complex bribery scheme that allegedly spanned from 2018 to 2023.

“Public servants are expected to serve the public,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz on Wednesday. “He was powerful. He was also corrupt. For years, Robert Menendez betrayed the people he was supposed to serve by taking bribes. And what was his price? Gold bars. Envelopes stuffed with cash. Checks for a bogus job for his wife. A Mercedes-Benz convertible.” 

The attorney for Menendez, Avi Weitzman, tried to distance his client from Nadine Menendez, saying the two live mostly separately lives. Nadine Menendez is expected to be a key player in the senator’s trial. 

Menendez is being tried alongside two of the businessmen — Hana, owner of the halal meat company IS EG Halal, and Fred Daibes, a real estate developer. All three have pleaded not guilty. A third businessman who was indicted, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty in March and confessed to buying Menendez’s wife a $60,000 Mercedes convertible to influence the senator. Uribe will testify during the trial, Pomerantz said. 

The judge in the case determined earlier this week that a psychiatrist who evaluated Menendez will not be allowed to testify about “two significant traumatic events” in the senator’s life that his lawyers claim explains why investigators found hundreds of thousands in cash in his home. 

Federal investigators found more than $480,000 in cash stashed in envelopes and coats, as well as 13 gold bars worth more than $100,000 when executing a search warrant at Menendez’s New Jersey home in June 2022. They also discovered nearly $80,000 in his wife’s safe deposit box at a nearby bank.