Opening statements kick off second criminal trial for NJ Sen. Bob Menendez

NEW YORK — After a jury was chosen in the federal bribery trial of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, opening statements were to occur Wednesday afternoon as prosecutors seek to convince a jury that the longtime powerful Democrat was willing to sell his influence to benefit three businessmen in return for cash, gold bars and a luxury car.

The three-term New Jersey senator has insisted since his fall arrest that he is not guilty of charges that he used his influence to aid three New Jersey businessmen, including by providing favors to the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

Prosecutors say the men showered Menendez and his wife with gifts to ensure Menendez would help them.

Judge Sidney H. Stein gave a jury that had been chosen by early afternoon initial instructions on the law before a lunch break. The 12 jurors and six alternates were chosen over three days.

Menendez, 70, is on trial in Manhattan federal court with two of the businessmen. A third has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the other defendants. Menendez’s wife is scheduled to be tried in July.

For the senator, the trial represents the second time he has been criminally charged in a federal court in the last decade.

In 2017, a federal jury deadlocked on corruption charges brought in New Jersey, and prosecutors did not seek to retry him.

Those charges were unrelated to the current prosecution of Menendez, who held the powerful post of chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before he was forced from the job after the new charges were revealed last fall.

Menendez is on trial with Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer, and businessman Wael Hana. They have pleaded not guilty.

An indictment alleges Daibes delivered gold bars and cash to Menendez and his wife to get the senator to help him secure a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund by acting in ways favorable to Qatar’s government.

The indictment also said Menendez did things benefitting Egyptian officials in exchange for bribes from Hana as the businessman secured a lucrative deal with the Egyptian government to certify that imported meat met Islamic dietary requirements.

Menendez has said he will not be seeking reelection on the Democratic ticket this fall, although he has not ruled out running as an independent.