Jurors in Sen. Menendez corruption trial to deliberate for third day

Jurors will deliberate for a third day Tuesday in Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal bribery trial.

The jury weighing Menendez’s fate spent three hours Friday deliberating and another seven hours considering the case Monday before ending the day without reaching a verdict. They will return Tuesday morning to the Daniel Patrick Moynihan federal courthouse in Manhattan.

“The government’s case — not as simple as they made it to be,” Menendez told reporters while leaving the courthouse Monday. “The jury is finding that out.”

New Jersey’s senior senator, a Democrat, is charged with 16 crimes, including bribery, extortion, acting as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy. Prosecutors accuse him of taking gold bars, cash, a luxury car, and more from three businessmen who wanted his help to disrupt criminal cases and land lucrative investments from Egyptian and Qatari officials.

The trial is now in its 10th week, with codefendants Daibes and Wael Hana standing trial beside Menendez.

Daibes, an Edgewater real estate developer and bank founder, and Hana, a halal meat exporter, have denied guilt, saying the cash and gold that FBI investigators seized from the senator’s Englewood Cliffs home during a June 2022 search were gifts given out of friendship and that the deals they signed with Egyptian and Qatari officials were the result of their hard work, connections, and due diligence.

Menendez has also denied the charges, saying his actions in Egypt and Qatar were the normal work of a U.S. senator, that he has hoarded cash over decades as “a Cuban thing,” and that his wife, Nadine, had inherited family gold.

Codefendant Jose Uribe pleaded guilty in March. Nadine Menendez was also charged but won’t stand trial until at least August while she undergoes treatment for breast cancer.