(15 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 15 May 2024
1. Sen. Bob Menendez arrives at court
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press:
"Senator Bob Menendez, a new Jersey Democrat, went on trial in Manhattan federal court. And today, there were opening statements. A prosecutor said that gold bars and cash found in the home he shared with his wife, Nadine Menendez in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, were the result of bribes from three New Jersey businessmen who wanted the senator since 2018 to carry out acts on their behalf that would help them make money."
ASSOCIATED PRESS VIA ELIZABETH WILLIAMS – MUST CREDIT ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
New York – 15 May 2024
3. STILL Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz gives her opening statement while gesturing to Robert Menendez, far left, as Judge Sidney Stein presides in Manhattan federal court
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 15 May 2024
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press:
"The prosecutor said Senator was a greedy man who corrupted his office and betrayed the people he was supposed to represent. His defense lawyer, though, Avi Weitzman, gave a totally different view, saying that the senator actually knew nothing about these alleged corrupt acts because the gold bars and cash that the prosecutors claimed were found, in parts of the home with fingerprints of one of these businessmen on them, belonged to his wife, who he met in 2018. And, the lawyer said that she hid from him the fact that she was in financial desperate condition and was reaching out to everyone, family and friends to try to get money. He says, that the senator was totally unaware that she used these three businessmen to get the money she needed. And as a result, he should be found innocent."
ASSOCIATED PRESS VIA ELIZABETH WILLIAMS – MUST CREDIT ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
New York – 15 May 2024
5. STILL In this courtroom sketch, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, seated far left, looks at his defense attorney Avi Weitzman give his opening statement
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 15 May 2024
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press:
"Up next is opening statements tomorrow morning from two businessmen who the senator is on trial with, and a third businessman will be testifying against the senator because he pled guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors."
7. Sen. Bob Menendez leaving court
STORYLINE:
At the opening of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s trial, a prosecutor pointed the finger at him, calling the Democrat corrupt and telling a federal jury in New York on Wednesday that he traded his power in return for bribes of gold bars, cash and a car. Later, Menendez’s lawyer called prosecutors “dead wrong.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz said the 70-year-old New Jersey politician delivered favors for three New Jersey businessmen since 2018. And she also put his wife, Nadine Menendez, at the center of the crimes, saying the scheme started in 2018 when he and his wife-to-be had begun dating.
Pomerantz said the senator was careful not to send too many written communications involving the bribery scheme and used his wife to communicate.
Nadine Menendez is charged in the case, but her trial has been delayed until at least July because of a medical condition that requires surgery. She has pleaded not guilty.
The three-term New Jersey senator also has insisted since his fall arrest that he’s not guilty of bribery, fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. He has said his interactions with the governments of Egypt and Qatar were proper and not illegal.
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