The trial against Democratic Senator Bob Menendez began this Monday in federal court in Manhattan, where he is accused of accepting bribes in gold and cash in exchange for using his influence to do favors for three New Jersey businessmen.
Menendez, 70, sat accompanied by his attorneys and listened attentively to Judge Sidney H. Stein as he separately briefed two groups of 50 potential jurors about the charges against the senator and two of the businessmen.
The judge told them that the “current federal senator from the state of New Jersey” had been accused of being part of a scheme in which he allegedly “agreed to and accepted bribes.”
After warning them that the trial was scheduled to last up to seven weeks, Stein allowed jurors to raise their hands if they felt they could not do their jobs for that long. Afterwards, he took each of them to another room to ask them why.
Menendez is being prosecuted along with two of the businessmen who allegedly paid him bribes: real estate developer Fred Daibes and Wael Hana. All three have pleaded not guilty. A third businessman pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the other defendants. The senator's wife also faces charges, but his trial has been postponed until at least July.
Stein had not finished questioning the potential jurors who said they couldn't work that long when he called it a day without even beginning the process of asking general questions of all the potential jurors, such as whether they knew any of the parties to the case, including attorneys, defendants, or potential witnesses.
The judge gave no indication whether he believed it was possible for opening arguments to take place Tuesday.
Upon leaving the court, Menendez greeted the reporters who asked him for a few words before rushing toward a waiting vehicle without making any statements to the press.
Menendez, who wore a suit with a red tie, arrived at the Manhattan federal courthouse at 8:15 a.m., 40 minutes before former President Donald Trump's motorcade passed by to head across the street to in state court, where he faces trial for allegedly falsifying financial records to conceal payments in exchange for a porn actress's silence before the 2016 election.
The senator did not speak to the press, who remained behind a barricade, before entering a security pavilion where he screens everyone who enters the court.
The trial, Menendez's second in a seven-year period, has wreaked havoc on his political standing. After the charges were announced last September, the senator was forced to leave his influential post as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
The three-term senator has announced that he will not seek re-election on the Democratic ticket next November, although he has not ruled out running as an independent.