Opening statements began Wednesday afternoon in the corruption trial of Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who is accused of trading his influence and power to foreign governments and three New Jersey businessmen in a complex bribery scheme that spanned from 2018 to 2023.
Twelve jurors and six alternates were sworn in before prosecutors from the Justice Department and Menendez's attorneys laid out their case.
Menendez is being tried alongside two of the businessmen — Wael 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, Nadine, a $60,000 Mercedes convertible to influence the senator. Uribe will testify during the trial, prosecutor Lara Pomerantz said.
Pomerantz said the case is about a public official who "put his power up for sale" in the pursuit of lucrative bribes. She called it "politics for profit."
"Public officials are supposed to serve the public," she said. "Menendez was a powerful elected official and corrupt. He betrayed the people he was supposed to serve for bribes. Gold bars. A bogus job for his wife. Mercedes-Benz."
Menendez used his wife as a "go-between" with those accused of bribing him, Pomerantz alleged.
Nadine Menendez is likely to play a central role in the trial. The indictments portrayed her as an intermediary between her husband, Egyptian intelligence and military officials and the New Jersey businessmen who were seeking political favors from the senator.
She was originally supposed to be tried with her husband, but her trial is now expected to take place later this summer because of a "serious medical condition" that requires surgery and weeks of recovery. She has pleaded not guilty.
Menendez's lawyer, Avi Weitzman, put the blame on Nadine Menendez for the predicament they are in, saying she kept him in the dark about her dealings with the businessmen.
During a search of the couple's home before they were indicted last year, investigators found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and more than a dozen gold bars worth more than $100,000.
Weitzman said the cash can be explained by Menendez withdrawing money each month from his bank account and stockpiling it at home because of trauma in his past. He sought to challenge prosecutors' claims that the cash was from the other defendants, saying some of the bills were not even in circulation anymore.
As for the gold bars, Weitzman said Menendez believed they were from his wife's family.
Lawyers for Hana and Daibes are expected to give their opening statements Thursday.
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