Senator Bob Menendez found guilty in bribery scheme
Bob Menendez • United States Senator
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Bob Menendez • United States Senator
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00:00And jurors begin deliberations today in the federal corruption trial of Senator Bob Menendez.
00:05In closing arguments, prosecutors accused the New Jersey Democrat of selling his office
00:09while defense attorneys mocked the government's case as, quote, cherry-picked nonsense.
00:14Menendez is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes,
00:18but his attorneys say there's no direct evidence linking him to any payments.
00:22Senior investigative correspondent Erin Guterski joins me now for more.
00:26Erin, what does the prosecution have to prove to secure a conviction here?
00:31They have to prove that Senator Menendez corrupted his office by taking bribes
00:36in the form of gold bars, wads of cash, a luxury convertible,
00:41in exchange for official acts on behalf of the New Jersey businessmen
00:46that are accused of paying him the bribes.
00:48And those official acts included, according to prosecutors,
00:51intervening in criminal and civil cases with other government officials
00:57and with taking action that benefited Qatar and Egypt
01:02and acting as a foreign agent of those countries
01:06while he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
01:10It's a tall order. Menendez is charged with 16 counts,
01:13including bribery and extortion and wire fraud.
01:17The closing arguments, all told, took four days,
01:21so the jury has a lot to think about, Diane.
01:24So, Erin, what are some of the key areas the defense is trying to use
01:28to raise reasonable doubt?
01:31There are a couple.
01:33One is there is no direct evidence of Menendez saying,
01:36I will do this thing if you pay me this money, right?
01:39That's not how prosecutors say the scheme worked,
01:42but the defense is trying to convince the jury that they didn't see any video,
01:46they didn't see any text messages,
01:48they didn't see any e-mails that directly connects Menendez to the bribes.
01:53And they've said that the gold bars, the cash found in his house,
01:57all that belonged to his wife.
01:59So the senator is blaming his wife and saying she kept him in the dark
02:05while she shook down these New Jersey businessmen.
02:09Now, Senator Menendez's wife, Nadine, has also been charged here,
02:13but she's being tried separately.
02:15So how could this verdict impact her case?
02:19Well, the way that it's being argued, Diane, they're heaping it all on her.
02:24So it's not going to be a great look.
02:28They were supposed to be tried together,
02:30but the, I guess, benefit of being tried separately
02:33is Menendez now can blame his wife without repercussion on his own case,
02:38and she could do the same and say, well, he's the one, you know, Your Honor.
02:43But she is set to be tried either later this summer or early fall.
02:47She has some medical issues that she's been going through,
02:51so the trials are separate, even though prosecutors argued against it.
02:55And there's been a lot of the case that's been put on her
02:59saying she's the one that was shaking down the businessmen.
03:03All right. Senior investigative correspondent Erin Katurski.
03:05Thank you, Erin.