Bob Menendez accused of selling power in bribery trial

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday accused Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) of putting his power “up for sale” by procuring weapons and aid for Egypt, securing a Qatari investment for a New Jersey businessman, and making criminal charges disappear for another in exchange for cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes Benz.

“You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,” U.S. prosecutor Laura Pomerantz said during opening arguments in the senator’s high-profile bribery trial. She also accused Menendez of putting “greed first.”

Pomerantz laid out the government’s case against the three-term senator, describing a complex yearslong scheme that she claimed led to Menendez betraying the public and his oath of office.

The government alleged that Menendez, who was chairman of the influential and powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, used his position to help his wife’s consulting company. They claimed he used her as a go-between to carry out “favors.”

Menendez is being tried alongside Wael Hana, who allegedly capitalized on his relationship with the senator not only to make himself rich but also to steer and aid weapons to Egypt.

Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer who allegedly gave Menendez gold, cash, and furniture in exchange for unrelated federal bank charges against him to disappear, is also being tried.

Hana and Daibes have pleaded not guilty.

Menendez’s wife of four years, Nadine Menendez, has also been charged. Her trial date has been set for July 8 due to an unspecified illness.

Defense attorney Avi Weitzman countered the prosecution’s characterization of Bob Menendez, calling the New Jersey lawmaker an “American patriot” who has been a “lifelong public servant.”

He also said the defense would show Bob Menendez was just “doing his job, and he was doing it right.” Weitzman slammed prosecutors and claimed their case centered on “speculation and guesswork.”

However, it became apparent pretty quickly that his defense strategy would include shifting much of the blame to Nadine Menendez.

Weitzman, in his opening statement, painted Bob Menendez as a lovestruck man who was duped by a femme fatale who had her own hidden agenda.

“The evidence will show that Nadine was hiding her financial challenges from Bob,” he said. “She kept him in the dark about what she was asking others to give her.”

Nadine Menendez had “friendships” with different men, Weitzman said, adding that the married couple of less than four years largely led separate lives and weren’t even on the same cellphone plan.

Weitzman also attempted to shoot down speculation about the infamous gold bars found in the Menendez’s home during a police search last year.

Prosecutors alleged Menendez knew their worth and where they came from after the senator’s repeated Google searches for the price of gold. Weitzman said the searches were done in good faith and were unrelated to bribes.

He also asked the 12 jurors and six alternates who had been seated Wednesday morning, “Is it really surprising that Bob might not know that those gold bars” were in her closet?

Weitzman further told jurors that Menendez’s decision to help Hana and Daibes amounted to nothing more than “constituent services.”

The trial is expected to last seven weeks.

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There is a list of high-profile politicians who could be called to the stand, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Judge Sidney H. Stein said Tuesday.

Other potential witnesses included former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and former New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.