Jurors could be seated as soon as Wednesday to determine whether Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey broke the law in a bribery scheme involving Egypt’s and Qatar’s governments.
The judge overseeing U.S. Senator Robert Menendez’s corruption trial struggled to find impartial jurors due to bias towards law enforcement and cooperating government witnesses.
Jury selection began in the corruption trial of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, who faces 16 criminal charges including bribery, fraud, obstruction, and acting as a foreign agent.
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez is scheduled for arraignment on Monday on a new indictment for obstruction of justice related to his upcoming corruption trial. The indictment accuses him of using his former lawyers to falsely inform federal prosecutors that payments made for his wife were loans, not bribes. Menendez, who has previously pleaded not guilty to charges of accepting bribes and acting as an agent for Egypt, has labeled the new charges as false. He temporarily stepped down from his role as chair of the Senate’s foreign relations committee after being charged last year. Menendez, his wife Nadine, and businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, who have all pleaded not guilty, will go on trial on May 6.