Prosecutors contend that Salomon Melgen’s purchase of the hotel room for Sen. Robert Menendez, as well as flights on his private jet for the senator and other gifts | AP Photo An expensive grill and a Brazilian actress: Day 3 of the Menendez trial

Here are the highlights from Day 3 of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's federal corruption trial in Newark.

Menendez, a Democrat and New Jersey's senior senator, is charged with doing official favors for his friend and co-defendant, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, in exchange for expensive hotel stays, private jet flights and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.


3:30 PM

NEWARK — When one of Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen’s girlfriends handed her interviewer at the U.S. consulate in the Dominican Republic a letter from U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez in support of her 2008 visa application, the interviewer wasn’t impressed.

“He looked at it briefly and he said, 'sorry but this does me no good … unfortunately, we are the ones who decide whether or not someone is qualified for a visa’” the then-22-year-old girlfriend, Rosiell Polanco, recounted to the 63-year-old Melgen in Spanish, according to translated emails read aloud in court on Monday. ‘And with that, he ended the interview.’”

Melgen soon informed Menendez the visa application for Polanco, as well as one for her sister, were denied. But Menendez didn’t give up. His senior adviser, Mark Lopes, told him he was working on a follow-up letter to the consul general.

Would the senator like to wait for that letter, Lopes asked, or call the embassy ASAP?

“Call ambassador ASAP,” Menendez wrote back, according to emails entered into evidence on Monday.

Within weeks, the sisters had another interview. Weeks after that, Lopez got word their visa applications had been approved.

“In my view, this was only due to the fact that (Robert Menendez) intervened,” Lopes wrote to Menendez’s then-chief of staff, Danny O’Brien, adding that he would tell Menendez.

Hours were spent during Monday's testimony on whether the mundane mechanics of government were put to use for corrupt ends, and even on the intricacies of credit card points.

Prosecutors say Menendez used his power to do favors for Melgen in exchange for Melgen’s wealth, which Menendez coveted but did not have. Menendez, prosecutors allege, was awarded with a luxury hotel stay in Paris, numerous private jet flights, vacations at Melgen’s villa in the Dominican Republic and about $750,000 in political contributions.

The discussions Monday centered around Menendez’s efforts to intercede with State Department officials to secure tourist visas for the Polanco sisters, as well a student visa for another Melgen girlfriend, Brazilian actress and law student Juliana Lopes-Leite.

Menendez is also accused of helping Melgen get a visa for a third girlfriend who did not come up in Monday’s proceedings.

“In your experience, do ambassadors get involved in visa applications?” prosecutor J.P. Cooney asked Lopes.

“Only if U.S. senators advocate on their behalf. It was not uncommon for Senator Menendez to advocate forcefully,” Lopes said.

Menendez attorney Raymond Brown fought back, showing the jury letters the senator wrote to the U.S. ambassador in Colombia that same year, advocating for U.S. tourist visas for a Colombian family that had no connection with Melgen.

That, however, was after a 20 minute-debate with the prosecution about whether such evidence was relevant.

“Per our telephone conversation from this morning, I would like to personally vouch for the character of the Colombian citizens listed below and assure you that their visit to the United States is for tourist purposes only,” Menendez wrote in a 2008 letter to the U.S. ambassador to Colombia.

Judge William H. Walls refused to let the defense show the jury what it said was a similar case of Menendez writing the U.S. consul general in India about someone’s visa issues.

Brown also highlighted phrases in Lopes’ emails to State Department officials that he said showed Menendez wasn’t seeking any special treatment for Melgen’s girlfriends.

A Lopes email to State Department officials asked them to give “careful consideration” to Lopez-Leite’s application, while Lopes asked officials to give the Polanco sisters “all consideration within requirements of the law.”

“Is that secret code for ‘let her in’ or is that exactly what you meant?” Brown asked.

Lopes indicated it was not secret code.

The trial, which is scheduled to reconvene at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, is expected to last six to eight weeks.

12:22 PM

NEWARK — Sen. Robert Menendez said in a 2010 email that he would reimburse his friend, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, for the nearly 650,000 American Express points Melgen used to purchase a three-night stay at a hotel in Paris for the senator — as soon as Menendez accumulated enough points himself.

But it would have taken Menendez about 30 years to accumulate those points at the rate he was spending then, an American Express executive testified at Menendez’s corruption trial. And three years later, when Menendez for the first time redeemed his own American Express points — more than 135,000 of them — he used them instead to purchase a high-end grill that was shipped to New Jersey, according to the witness.

The testimony from American Express’ Andrew Thomas — a vice president for its membership rewards program — came during the third day of Menendez’s trial in Newark, during which prosecutors also called a Menendez staffer who detailed his efforts to secure visas for co-defendant Melgen’s foreign girlfriends to visit the United States.

Prosecutors contend that Melgen’s purchase of the hotel room for Menendez, a Democrat, as well as flights on his private jet for the senator and other gifts — including more than $750,000 in political contributions — were exchanged for official favors Menendez did for Melgen, including securing the visas.

The prosecution’s painstaking detailing of the credit card points episode fed into the narrative they introduced in opening statements: That Menendez traded his power for a lifestyle he couldn’t afford on a senator’s salary.

At the time Melgen used the points to purchase the hotel room for Menendez, the senator had accumulated about 58,000 points on his card, for which he signed up in 2007.

“So about ten times as many points as it took Robert Menendez three years to earn?” prosecutor Amanda Vaugh asked. “That’s correct,” Thomas said.

Menendez attorney Jenny Kramer, in her cross-examination of Thomas, noted that an email that Melgen’s son-in-law sent to Menendez noted that the expensive hotel room Melgen purchased was “the only room type available for points redemption” and that there was no mention in the email of how many points Melgen spent.

Thomas told Kramer that there was no way for one American Express customer to reimburse another with points, though they could make purchases on each others’ behalf with them.

Of the grill — a Weber Genesis, which ranges in price from $700 to $1,500 on amazon.com — Kramer asked Thomas: “Do you know why Sen. Menendez purchased it and whether it was given to someone else?”

“No,” Thomas responded.

The trial then moved on to Mark Lopes, who served as Menendez’s senior policy adviser from late 2007 to mid-2010.

The prosecution outlined emails Lopes exchanged with Menendez and state department officials that supported visa applications on behalf of a Brazilian law student and former actress, Juliana Lopes-Leite, and a Dominican woman and her sister who in the email exchanges were referred to as “friends” of Melgen. In the emails, it was clear Melgen had requested help for the women, who in Menendez’s indictment are revealed to be Melgen’s girlfriends.

Lopes said that in his role he would work on visa applications “every month or two” but not every application brought before the office. In one email with the subject: “Dr. Melgen request” that was about the Dominican woman and her sister, Lopes told Menendez “we are preparing a general letter of support from you” and asked him “ok to send, right?”

“Yes, as well as call if necessary,” Menendez responded.