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☆ Menendez’s Senate Replacement Has Been a Democrat for Just 5 Months
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-23 | by ( Tracey Tully | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When George Helmy is sworn in next month as Robert Menendez’s temporary replacement in the Senate, he will be joining a chamber where Democrats hold a razor-thin majority, outnumbering Republicans by a single seat, 50 to 49. Mr. Helmy was selected last week by Gov. Mr. Helmy, however, is new to the Democratic Party. Mr. Helmy will serve in Washington only through November. His appointment will return the Democratic majority to 51 members, as it was before Mr. Menendez resigned on Tuesday.

Persons: George Helmy, Robert Menendez’s, Helmy, Philip D, Murphy, Menendez, Tammy Murphy, New Jersey’s, Chuck Schumer, Biden Organizations: Senate, Gov, Democrat, Democratic Party, Democratic Senate, New, Democratic, Democrats Locations: Murphy of New Jersey, Morris County, N.J, Washington, New York

☆ The latest scene-stealing side character on 'House of the Dragon' is a random child who verbally destroys Daemon
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-30 | by ( Palmer Haasch | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Oscar Tully, played by actor Archie Barnes, manages to completely steal away one of the best scenes in "House of the Dragon" to date in episode seven. Daemon desperately covets it, but unfortunately for him, Oscar isn't going to let him take it easily. What you're witnessing here is the verbal murder of Daemon Targaryen at the hands of Oscar Tully. It's the only move available to him to win over the other River Lords, and in turn, their considerable armies. Oscar Tully forever!

Persons: —, Daemon Targaryen, Oscar Tully, Archie Barnes, Tully, Oscar, Oscar isn't, Daemon, Grover, Lord, Willem Blackwood, Bracken, Alys Rivers, Oscar Tully isn't, Ollie Upton, Daemon's, Consort, Prince, Daemon seethes, it's, Barnes, sass, Matt Smith, TULLY, tAcWRbHZyP — hayes Organizations: Service, Business, Paramount, HBO Locations: Alys, Harrenhal, @temptationslvre

☆ Menendez Will Resign From Senate, Avoiding an Ugly, Intraparty Battle
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-23 | by ( Tracey Tully | Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Menendez’s decision to quit months before the end of his third term will likely allow Democrats to avoid a potentially ugly intraparty fight at a highly fraught political moment. New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Philip D. Murphy, is expected to appoint a replacement who would serve until January. Mr. Menendez, 70, has insisted that he is innocent and vowed to appeal the guilty verdict. The decision, first reported by The New Jersey Globe, was described by four people familiar with Mr. Menendez’s remarks who were not authorized to discuss them publicly. One of them said Mr. Menendez planned to step down on Aug. 20 and could announce the decision publicly as soon as Tuesday afternoon.

Persons: Robert Menendez, Philip D, Murphy, Mr, Menendez, Menendez’s Organizations: Robert Menendez of New, Democratic, Senate Foreign Relations, The New, The New Jersey Globe Locations: Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Union City, N.J, Washington, The New Jersey

☆ Menendez Tells Allies He Is Considering Resigning After Conviction
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-17 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | Tracey Tully | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey has privately told allies that he is considering resigning from Congress after his conviction in a sweeping bribery scheme rather than face a potential expulsion vote, according to three people familiar with his remarks. Two of the people, who were not authorized to discuss the conversations, cautioned that Mr. Menendez has not made a final decision and could still fight to serve out his term. Publicly, he has maintained his innocence and vowed to appeal Tuesday’s guilty verdict on 16 felony counts. “I have never been anything but a patriot,” Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, told reporters in New York after conviction. But the comments he made in phone calls with close associates in the hours after he left the Manhattan courthouse suggest for the first time that Mr. Menendez has absorbed how rapidly his political path forward is crumbling — and may be looking to avoid further public humiliation.

Persons: Robert Menendez, Menendez, Tuesday’s, ” Mr Organizations: Robert Menendez of New, Publicly Locations: Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, New York, Manhattan

☆ What to Know About the Intricate Menendez Corruption Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-16 | by ( Benjamin Weiser | Tracey Tully | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey was convicted on Tuesday of taking part in a complicated bribery scheme in which he traded political favors for cash, gold bars and other gifts. Federal prosecutors said the plot began in February 2018, less than a month after Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, was cleared of charges tied to an unrelated federal corruption case in New Jersey. Here are the central elements of the case against the senator and his two co-defendants, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, two New Jersey businessmen:Aiding EgyptMr. Menendez was charged with using his influence and power as a senator in ways that benefited both the government of Egypt and Mr. Hana, an American citizen who emigrated from Egypt and was trying to get a halal meat certification company off the ground in New Jersey. Mr. Menendez, a former leader of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was accused of steering weapons and aid to Egypt in exchange for bribes.

Persons: Robert Menendez, Menendez, Wael Hana, Fred Daibes, Egypt Mr, Hana Organizations: Robert Menendez of New, Democrat, Senate Foreign Relations Locations: Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, New Jersey, Jersey, Egypt, American

A Manhattan jury returned the verdict after deliberating for about 13 hours over three days in Federal District Court. Mr. Menendez was found guilty on all 16 counts he faced, including bribery, honest services wire fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and acting as an agent for Egypt. The verdict made Mr. Menendez the first United States senator to be found guilty of acting as an agent of a foreign power and the seventh to be convicted of a federal crime while in office. Mr. Menendez, 70, now faces the possibility of many years in prison when he is sentenced by the judge, Sidney H. Stein. The judge said he would sentence Mr. Menendez on Oct. 29.

Persons: Robert Menendez, Menendez, Sidney H, Stein Organizations: Robert Menendez of New, Senate Foreign Relations, Court, United Locations: Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Manhattan, Egypt, United States

☆ A Fossil Mystery, Solved by a Spin
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-15 | by ( Jack Tamisiea | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

A Fossil Mystery, Solved by a SpinEssexella fossils date back to the Carboniferous period, when northern parts of Illinois hovered just above the equator. Essexella fossils are composed of two structures — a textured, barrel-shaped region and a smooth bulb. “It looked like the bottom of an anemone,” Dr. Plotnick said. Dr. Plotnick, Dr. Hagadorn and their team redescribed Essexella as an ancient anemone last year in the journal Papers in Palaeontology. Dr. Plotnick posits that these animals once lined the floor of the Mazon Creek estuary.

Persons: Roy Plotnick, Francis Tully, Tully, ”, Essexella, Plotnick, James Hagadorn, I've, Marjorie Leggitt, Hagadorn, Edward Drinker Cope, Charles Marsh, couldn’t, De Agostini, Jean, Bernard Caron, Hallucigenia, ” Dr, Caron, Caron’s, Dr Organizations: University of Illinois, Denver Museum of Nature, Field Museum, Getty, Royal Ontario Museum Locations: University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, China, Burgess, Canada

☆ A Senator’s Fate Is in a Jury’s Hands
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-12 | by ( Benjamin Weiser | Tracey Tully | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Manhattan jury in Senator Robert Menendez’s corruption trial began its deliberations midday Friday on a raft of federal charges in what prosecutors describe as a complex and yearslong bribery conspiracy. A third-term Democrat who represents New Jersey, Mr. Menendez is accused of steering aid to Egypt, applying political pressure to preserve a friend’s business monopoly and meddling in criminal investigations in exchange for bribes of gold, cash and a Mercedes-Benz. On Thursday, Mr. Menendez, 70, seated at the defense table with his lawyers, leaned back in a chair, hands clasped on his lap, as a prosecutor offered an hourslong rebuttal to frequently impassioned closing arguments by lawyers for the senator and two businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, who are being tried with him. In his rebuttal argument, the prosecutor, Daniel C. Richenthal, took direct aim at a pillar of the senator’s defense strategy — an effort to shift blame to his wife, Nadine Menendez, 57.

Persons: Robert Menendez’s, Menendez, clasped, Wael Hana, Fred Daibes, Daniel C, Nadine Menendez Organizations: Benz Locations: Manhattan, New Jersey, Egypt

But he urged the jury to refocus of what he called a “clear pattern of corruption.”“The timeline tells you what happened,” he said. Afterward, Mr. Monteleoni said that the businessman, Wael Hana, and another wealthy associate began paying Ms. Menendez a generous salary. Mr. Monteleoni said that was not believable, and he presented text messages and Google search history that he said showed Mr. Menendez knew exactly what his wife was receiving. Mr. Monteleoni was expected to complete his closing argument on Tuesday morning. Mr. Menendez fumed as he left the courthouse on Monday.

Persons: Robert Menendez, ” Prosecutors, Nadine Menendez, Paul Monteleoni, ”, “, Menendez, Nadine, Mr, Monteleoni, Wael Hana, Menendez fumed Organizations: ”, Robert Menendez of New, Senate Foreign Relations, Department of Agriculture, Senate Foreign Locations: Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Manhattan, New Jersey

agents raided the New Jersey home of Senator Robert Menendez and his wife, they found envelope after envelope of cash, a federal prosecutor told a jury on Monday. Cash stuffed in bags, cash stuffed in the pockets of the senator’s jackets, cash stuffed in his boots. “It wasn’t enough for him to be one of the most powerful people in Washington,” Mr. Monteleoni told jurors. “It wasn’t enough for him to be entrusted by the public with the power to approve billions of dollars of U.S. military aid to foreign countries.”“No, Robert Menendez wanted all that power,” he added. “But he also wanted to use it to pile up riches for himself and his wife.”

Persons: F.B.I, Robert Menendez, Cash, Menendez, Paul M, Monteleoni, ” Mr, ” Organizations: Senate Foreign Relations Locations: New Jersey, Washington

☆ Biden and Trump are vying for the veteran vote in the 2024 race. Here's how their policies on veteran affairs stack up.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-05 | by ( Thomas Novelly | Rebecca Kheel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Biden shepherded through the PACT Act , which has been described as the biggest expansion of veterans benefits in a generation. "Someone who may have had a rare cancer that was benefited by the PACT Act, that's the most important thing to them. President Joe Biden delivers a speech about the PACT Act at the Westwood Park YMCA in Nashua, New Hampshire. After Jackson's bid ended, Robert Wilkie, who had been working at the Pentagon, was nominated and confirmed as VA secretary. Denis McDonough, who was Obama's chief of staff, has served as VA secretary since the beginning of the Biden administration.

Persons: —, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Biden, Trump, Patrick Murray, Military.com, John Tully, Joe Parsetich, Barack Obama, Cheriss, VFW's Murray, Donald J, Veterans Affairs David Shulkin, Michael Reynolds, Trump's, David Shulkin, Obama, Shulkin, Ronny Jackson, Jackson, Jackson's, Robert Wilkie, Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, Chip Somodevilla, Denis McDonough, Donald Remy, Tanya Bradsher, McDonough Organizations: Service, Business, Department of Veterans Affairs, Biden shepherded, Veterans, Foreign, PACT, American, Westwood, Getty, Disabled American Veterans, White, Biden, US, Veterans Affairs, Wimbledon, Shulkin, White House, Pentagon, Trump, Cross Locations: France, Nashua , New Hampshire, Rose, Trump's, Europe, Texas

☆ Menendez Defense Rests Without Senator Testifying
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-03 | by ( Benjamin Weiser | Tracey Tully | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

After calling just four witnesses, lawyers for Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey rested their case late Wednesday afternoon in Manhattan federal court, setting the stage for jurors to begin deliberations in his international bribery conspiracy trial early next week. Mr. Menendez, 70, said that he decided against testifying in his own defense for two primary reasons. The government, he said, had not proved its case, and he did not want to give prosecutors an opportunity to rehash the charges twice — once on cross-examination and again in closing arguments. That was “simply not something that makes any sense to me whatsoever,” Mr. Menendez said as he left the courthouse after proceedings ended for the day.

Persons: Robert Menendez, Menendez, —, ” Mr Organizations: Robert Menendez of New Locations: Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Manhattan

☆ Wife’s Ex-Boyfriend and Fear of Poverty at Center of Menendez’s Defense
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Tracey Tully | Benjamin Weiser | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Senator Robert Menendez’s lawyers have cast him as a man who was duped by his dazzling wife, Nadine Menendez, and unaware of the gold bars and cash she kept in her locked bedroom closet — or the deals she made to get them. After seven weeks of trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, prosecutors plan to rest their case on Friday, paving the way for the defense to begin offering evidence intended to poke holes in the government’s case. Mr. Menendez, 70, and Ms. Menendez, 57, are charged with taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for the senator’s efforts to steer aid to Egypt, prop up an ally’s business monopoly and disrupt criminal investigations on behalf of friends. The senator, a Democrat, is on trial, however, without his wife. A judge postponed Ms. Menendez’s trial after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Persons: Robert Menendez’s, Nadine Menendez, Menendez, Menendez’s Organizations: Federal, Court, Democrat Locations: Manhattan, Egypt

☆ Prosecutors in Menendez Bribery Trial Rest Their Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Benjamin Weiser | Tracey Tully | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After seven weeks of trial, federal prosecutors rested their case on Friday against Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat accused of conspiring to take hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold, cash and other bribes in return for the senator’s willingness to dispense political favors at home and abroad. Defense lawyers are expected to begin calling witnesses next week in Federal District Court in Manhattan. Throughout the trial, lawyers for Mr. Menendez, who has vigorously maintained his innocence, have aggressively cross-examined a parade of government witnesses, seeking to undermine their credibility. “The government hasn’t proven its case,” Mr. Menendez said as he left the courthouse on Friday. The conclusion of the government’s case comes nine months after Mr. Menendez, his wife and several New Jersey businessmen were first charged with participating in a vast bribery conspiracy that prosecutors say began in 2018.

Persons: Robert Menendez, Menendez, Mr Organizations: New, New Jersey Democrat, Defense, Federal, Court Locations: New Jersey, Manhattan, Jersey

☆ ‘Is There Any Chance He Can Sit on a Camel?’ A Senator’s Wife Wanted to Know.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Tracey Tully | Benjamin Weiser | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In March 2019, an aide to Senator Robert Menendez drafted a letter that used strong language to criticize the president of Egypt and the country’s human rights record. Mr. Menendez declined to sign it. Mr. Menendez, then the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he wanted to try a less confrontational approach, the aide, Sarah Arkin, testified on Monday at the senator’s bribery trial. “We’ve been going after them for so long on human rights — have been really out there publicly criticizing them — and it hasn’t really changed anything on the ground,” Ms. Arkin, a senior staff member with the committee, said Mr. Menendez had told her. Instead, Mr. Menendez said he wanted “to be a little less publicly critical and do more private and quiet engagement,” Ms. Arkin said.

Persons: Robert Menendez, Menendez, Sarah Arkin, “ We’ve, Ms, Arkin, Mr, “, ” Ms Organizations: Senate Foreign Relations Locations: Egypt

☆ Formula 1 Tickets and a Fixation on Gold: Menendez Trial Takeaways
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Tracey Tully | Benjamin Weiser | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After a month and a half of testimony from government witnesses, lawyers for Senator Robert Menendez this week are expected to begin rebutting the web of corruption charges facing New Jersey’s senior senator, once one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are likely to wrap up their case against Mr. Menendez by Wednesday. Mr. Menendez’s lawyers will then begin to call witnesses; they have said they might call as many as four dozen. Mr. Menendez, 70, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he doled out political favors to friends and foreign governments in exchange for bribes both eye-popping and mundane: hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz, Formula One race tickets, a reclining chair and an exercise machine. He is charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government and is the first senator in American history to be indicted twice in separate bribery cases — facts that have infused the proceeding with a sober, precedent-setting tone.

Persons: Robert Menendez, Menendez Organizations: New, Wednesday, Mercedes, Benz, Formula Locations: New Jersey’s, Washington, Federal, Manhattan

☆ What Happens When a Defendant Gets Covid-19 During Trial?
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Benjamin Weiser | Tracey Tully | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The trial of Senator Robert Menendez was paused on Thursday after the judge announced that one of the senator’s co-defendants, Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer, had tested positive for Covid-19. The judge, Sidney H. Stein, said it was “the expectation and the hope of the court” that the trial could resume Monday, given revised federal Covid guidelines and depending on how quickly Mr. Daibes begins to recover. Mr. Daibes is on trial with the senator and another defendant in a sprawling bribery conspiracy case in which prosecutors say Mr. Menendez, 70, and his wife, Nadine Menendez, 57, accepted gold, cash and a luxury car in exchange for the senator’s agreeing to dispense political favors at home and abroad. Ms. Menendez’s trial was postponed until at least August because she is being treated for breast cancer. All four defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Persons: Robert Menendez, Fred Daibes, Sidney H, Stein, Daibes, Menendez, Nadine Menendez, Menendez’s Organizations: Disease Control Locations: New Jersey

☆ Menendez Witness Braces for Questions on ‘His Lies and His Cheating’
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Tracey Tully | Benjamin Weiser | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Jose Uribe, a star government witness with a checkered past, is expected to testify on Tuesday for a third day at Senator Robert Menendez’s bribery trial as the focus of the proceeding shifts toward a series of face-to-face meetings that Mr. Uribe had with the senator. Mr. Uribe, who has pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe Mr. Menendez with a Mercedes-Benz, is likely to face hours of cross-examination by defense lawyers about at least one element that was missing from his direct testimony: any discussion with the senator of a payoff. “I never talked to Mr. Menendez about making payments for the car,” Mr. Uribe said in court on Monday. Mr. Uribe’s testimony did reveal two private meetings with the senator that were not mentioned in a federal indictment against Mr. Menendez.

Persons: Jose Uribe, Robert Menendez’s, Uribe, Menendez, Mr, Uribe’s Organizations: Benz

☆ On Senator Menendez’s Patio, Businessman Says, He Asked Directly for Help
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-10 | by ( Benjamin Weiser | Tracey Tully | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Jose Uribe, the businessman who has said he bribed Senator Robert Menendez in return for his help in quashing a criminal investigation involving two people close to him, testified on Monday that he had asked the senator directly for his help and that Mr. Menendez had said he would “look into it.”Mr. Uribe said that on Sept. 5, 2019, the night before Mr. Menendez met with New Jersey’s attorney general to discuss the matter, he was invited to the senator’s girlfriend’s home in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., where he and Mr. Menendez sat on a backyard patio, with the senator smoking a cigar. Mr. Menendez rang a little bell that he had on the table, calling out “mon amour” — French for “my love” — and summoning Nadine Menendez, the woman he married the next year. Mr. Uribe said she brought him a piece of paper and went back into the house. At the senator’s request, Mr. Uribe wrote down the names of two friends and two companies he believed were under investigation. Mr. Menendez then took the paper, folded it and placed it in his pants pocket.

Persons: Jose Uribe, Robert Menendez, Menendez, Mr, Uribe, “, Nadine Menendez Organizations: New Locations: quashing, Englewood Cliffs, N.J

☆ Former N.J. Attorney General Takes the Stand in Menendez Bribery Trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-06 | by ( Tracey Tully | Benjamin Weiser | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

New Jersey’s former attorney general, Gurbir S. Grewal, took the stand on Thursday afternoon in Senator Robert Menendez’s bribery trial, becoming the most prominent official to testify against the senator, a fellow Democrat. Mr. Grewal was expected to offer details about telephone calls from Mr. Menendez and a brief meeting the two had in September 2019 in the senator’s office in Newark. Being called as a witness in a criminal trial was an unusual role for Mr. Grewal, a former federal prosecutor who now leads the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division. Mr. Menendez turned to look directly at Mr. Grewal as he walked slowly to the stand. Mr. Uribe, who was charged last year in the alleged bribery conspiracy, pleaded guilty in March and is now cooperating with prosecutors.

Persons: Gurbir S, Grewal, Robert Menendez’s, Menendez, Mr, Jose Uribe, Uribe’s, Uribe Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange, Prosecutors Locations: Newark

☆ Andy Kim Wins Democratic Senate Primary; Rob Menendez Survives Challenge
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-04 | by ( Tracey Tully | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Representative Andy Kim, a lawmaker who has turned New Jersey politics on its head since entering the race to unseat Senator Robert Menendez, won the Democratic nomination for Senate on Tuesday after a campaign marked by a watershed ballot-access ruling. The victory makes Mr. Kim, 41, a favorite to become New Jersey’s next senator. He would be the first Korean American to be elected to the U.S. Senate. “I’m humbled by the results,” Mr. Kim said at Terhune Orchards in Princeton, where his supporters had gathered to celebrate. “This has been a very challenging and difficult race, a very dramatic one at that, and one that frankly has changed New Jersey politics forever.”The results, announced by The Associated Press minutes after polls closed, capped a tumultuous campaign that began a day after Senator Menendez, a Democrat, was accused in September of being at the center of a sprawling international bribery scheme.

Persons: Andy Kim, Robert Menendez, Kim, New Jersey’s, “ I’m, ” Mr, Menendez Organizations: Democratic, New, U.S . Senate, Orchards, The Associated, Democrat Locations: New Jersey, American, Princeton

☆ Menendez, on Trial, Files to Run for Re-election as an Independent
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-03 | by ( Tracey Tully | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, a lifelong Democrat who is in his fourth week of a federal bribery trial, filed paperwork Monday to run for re-election as an independent in November. The specter of Mr. Menendez, 70, trying to mount a comeback campaign raises the possibility of a splintered Democratic vote in November’s election, creating a wider lane for the Republican nominee at a time when Democrats are struggling to retain their narrow majority in the Senate. Mr. Menendez has been abandoned by most of the state’s leading Democrats, who quickly called on him to resign after he was indicted on corruption charges last year. He has defiantly refused to step down, but he opted not to run in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. He never, however, shut the door to running as an independent — enabling him to continue to raise and spend campaign contributions on lawyers hired to defend him and his wife, Nadine Menendez, who is also charged in the bribery conspiracy.

Persons: Robert Menendez, Mr, Menendez, Nadine Menendez Organizations: Robert Menendez of New, Democratic, Republican Locations: Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey

☆ Former U.S. Agriculture Official Says Menendez Told Him to ‘Stop Interfering’
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-31 | by ( Tracey Tully | Benjamin Weiser | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In May 2019, a top official in the U.S. Department of Agriculture got a call on his cellphone from Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey. The conversation was brief, the senator was curt, and the message was clear: “Stop interfering with my constituent.”Ted A. McKinney, then the under secretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, testified about the exchange on Friday during the third week of Mr. Menendez’s bribery trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan. It was the first time that jurors had heard directly from a witness who attributed conduct to the senator that is central to the government’s claim in an indictment that alleges a sprawling bribery conspiracy: that Mr. Menendez was willing to flex his political muscle to win favorable treatment for allies.

Persons: Robert Menendez, curt, ” Ted A, McKinney, Menendez Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture, Robert Menendez of New, Federal, Court Locations: Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Manhattan

☆ Menendez Jurors Hear Audio and See Texts From Seized Phones
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Tracey Tully | Benjamin Weiser | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On Jan. 31, 2018, the day Senator Robert Menendez was formally cleared of bribery charges that had dogged him for nearly three years in New Jersey, he got a text from Nadine Arslanian, a woman he would soon begin to date and later marry. “Now re-election!!! !” Ms. Arslanian wrote. “Yes!” Mr. Menendez replied before asking, “Are you around on Friday?”She was. After a dinner date at a New Jersey restaurant, it was Ms. Arslanian’s turn to send a text with a question: “What is your international position?”Mr. Menendez, 70, responded that he was the “ranking member” on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — “which means senior Democrat.”

Persons: Robert Menendez, Nadine Arslanian, “, Arslanian, Mr, Menendez, Arslanian’s, ” Organizations: Senate Foreign Relations Locations: New Jersey

☆ Menendez Judge Bars Some Prosecution Evidence in Bribery Trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Benjamin Weiser | Tracey Tully | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a potential setback for the government, a federal judge on Friday blocked the introduction of certain evidence that prosecutors wanted to use to support their case that Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey accepted bribes in exchange for approving billions of dollars in aid to Egypt. The judge’s order, which comes two weeks into Mr. Menendez’s corruption trial in Manhattan, could undermine prosecutors’ ability to prove certain elements of the multifaceted bribery charges against the senator. The ruling rests on protections afforded to members of Congress under the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which bars the government from citing specific legislative actions in seeking to prove a federal lawmaker committed a crime. The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York has said it intended to sidestep discussion of official legislative acts and focus instead on promises it says preceded Mr. Menendez’s votes and congressional actions.

Persons: Robert Menendez Organizations: Robert Menendez of New, Southern, of Locations: Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Egypt, Manhattan, U.S, of New York

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