While his daughter Alicia Menendez looks on, Sen. Bob Menendez talk to reporters as he arrives to court for his federal corruption trial in Newark, N.J. on Sept. 6. | Seth Wenig/AP 'Shut up,' judge tells Menendez lawyer

After a long criminal probe and several years of legal wrangling, the corruption trial of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez opened Wednesday 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.


Here are the highlights from Menendez's day in court:

3:11 PM

A few blocks away from the Newark courthouse where prosecutors and defense attorneys were presenting their opening arguments, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy appeared at a campaign event Wednesday.

He said he “hadn’t really thought about” whether Menendez should resign if he is convicted.

“I’m not a lawyer. I’m a big supporter of Senator Menendez. I think we should see how this plays out,” Murphy said when asked by reporters if a sitting U.S. senator convicted of a federal crime should resign. “I haven’t really thought about it, to be honest with you. I’m a big fan of his and as he said last week ‘I intend to be exonerated.'”

If Menendez, a Democrat and New Jersey's senior senator, were to resign, it would be up to the governor to appoint a successor.

1:44 PM

In his own opening statement Wednesday afternoon, Abbe Lowell, Menendez's defense attorney, said the prosecution's arguments are moot because there was no bribery — no intent to accept a quid pro quo.

“It is that one word, friendship, that the evidence will show was the true nature” of their relationship, Lowell said. There’s nothing illegal or corrupt here if he acted out of that friendship, he said.

This was just two friends, Lowell told jurors, who looked out for each other, who met in 1992, more than a decade before the government alleges the bribery scheme began, and bonded over their similar life experiences and shared views on the world.

“You will see they attended family events like weddings and even the funerals of parents, and they celebrated birthdays and holidays together, too,” Lowell said.

Menendez and Melgen were in regular contact for years, sharing thoughts about news stories they read or discussing their families. Melgen has been among just three or four close friends to the senator, Lowell said.

“Surprisingly, even through he’s a public official, you will hear that Senator Menendez is a rather private person,” Lowell told the jury.

What’s more, he said, all of the actions Menendez took were meant to benefit more than just Melgen — they were seen as wider issues worth getting involved with. And the senator didn’t agree to do everything Melgen asked of him — he said no to some requests, like when Melgen asked for help securing a visa for a housekeeper.

Taken together, everything Menendez did over the half-dozen years of the alleged scheme, took about three hours of the senator's own time, Lowell said.

The attorney also argued, notably, that Menendez had no ability to directly impact the outcome of the issues he became involved with at Melgen’s request. That’s because those issues were pending before the executive branch.

“Senator Menendez did not have the power to do any of the things prosecutors alleges,” Lowell said.

That defense could be key in arguments before the jury and in any potential appeals; prosecutors must show Menendez acted in his official capacity to prove their case of bribery.



12:41 PM

NEWARK — In a corrupt bargain, wealthy Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen gave Senator Menendez “a lifestyle that reads like a travel brochure for the rich and the famous” and hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions in exchange for official favors, lead prosecutor Peter Koski said Wednesday.

Koski laid out the corruption case against Menendez and Melgen, his co-defendant, telling jurors in federal court that the New Jersey Democrat had accepted bribe after bribe from a wealthy Florida doctor who wanted one thing: His influence.

Koski told the jury the details of Menendez’s stays at luxury hotel rooms paid for by Melgen, stays at Melgen’s luxury condo in the Dominican Republic, and free flights on Melgen’s private jet. In exchange, Koski said, Menendez “went to bat” for Melgen — who lived 1,000 miles from New Jersey — by pressuring officials at the highest levels of government to benefit Melgen.

That meant helping obtain visas for the doctor’s foreign girlfriends; pressuring U.S. officials to help resolve a multi-million-dollar contract dispute between one of Melgen’s companies and the Dominican Republic; and working to influence the outcome of Medicaid billing dispute. Menendez even “threatened an assistant secretary of state,” Koski said.

“All of this to enrich one man who didn’t even live in the state Sen. Menendez was elected to represent,” Koski said, with Menendez and Melgen looking on in the courtroom.

Menendez, who has spent virtually his entire adulthood as an elected official, is one of the Senate’s least wealthy members.

“This case is about a corrupt politician who sold his Senate office for a life of luxury he couldn’t afford, and a greedy doctor who put that politician on his payroll for whenever he needed the services of a United States senator,” said Koski.

Even though Menendez was charged more than two years ago, today marked the first day of his trial, which began with the prosecution’s opening statements. Defense lawyers for Menendez and Melgen are expected to present their opening statements this afternoon.

According to Koski, when Menendez wanted a lavish hotel room in Paris, he emailed Melgen all the details — right down the “limestone bath, soaking tub and enclosed rain shower, with views of the courtyards and the streets.”

“When that wealthy eye doctor received that senator’s email, he didn’t ask any questions and he didn’t say no,” Koski said. He booked the room, in the senator’s name, using hundreds of thousands of American Express points, he said.

It was just one of many examples, the prosecutors said, of the bribes Menendez received in exchange for helping Melgen with personal and business issues. He took at least 16 flights on the doctor’s private jet and stayed with him in posh vacation spots. In total, Melgen made more than $750,000 in political contributions that benefited Menendez.

Menendez’s congressional website told out-of-state residents that Menendez would forward their concerns to their home-state senators. But Koski said Menendez made an exception for Melgen, despite his Florida residence.

“Make no mistake about it, Robert Menendez was Salomon Melgen’s personal United States senator,” Koski said.

Although the two claim to be close friends, Koski noted that they did not grow up together but met at a political fundraiser “at a time in their lives when one had money and the other had power.”

Their relationship, he said, would blossom into one involving “the unmistakable exchange of one man’s wealth for the other man’s influence.”

Melgen was found guilty in April, in a separate criminal case, of improperly billing the federal government for more than $100 million in medical insurance payments. He has not yet been sentenced.

11:20 AM

NEWARK — Sen. Cory Booker arrived in federal court here Wednesday morning to support his New Jersey colleague, Sen. Robert Menendez, as his corruption trial gets underway.

Booker joined Menendez in a courtroom hallways during a bring recess before opening arguments, nearly walking past the fellow Democrat before turning around to embrace him. The two whispered to each other for a while before chatting with a larger group.

The two talked for a while with high-profile defense Michael Critchley, who represented Bridget Anne Kelly, a former aide to Gov. Chris Christie who was convicted of helping plot the George Washington Bridge lane closures.

The group headed into the court room together shortly after 11 a.m. as prosecutors prepared to give jurors and overview of the case.

Menendez, New Jersey’s senior senator, will be tried next to Salomon Melgen, a wealthy ophthalmologist and businessman from Florida. Menendez is accused of carrying out numerous political favors for Melgen, a close friend, in exchange for lavish gifts, jet flights and campaign cash.

He says he’ll prove his innocence before the trial ends, possibly in two months.

11:00 AM

NEWARK — Prosecutors are cleared to make opening arguments after several new jurors were chosen for the high-profile case.

After dismissing one juror for financial hardship, U.S. District Court Judge William Walls moved one alternate juror into the spot and selected three new alternates.

Walls picked three men: A heavy machine operator, a retired energy company worker and an employee of a company that manages Starbucks locations at John K. Kennedy International Airport. That gives him six alternatives in case other members of the jury have to be dismissed.



10:39 AM

NEWARK — U.S. District Court Judge William H. Walls told a lawyer for Sen. Robert Menendez to "shut up for a moment" as the two engaged in a heated argument during the first moments of the New Jersey Democrat's corruption trial.

Shortly after court proceedings began, defense attorney Raymond Brown criticized Judge William H. Walls for a line in his opinion on Friday that rejected Menendez’s request that the trial be recessed on days where the Senate is taking “critical” votes, so that the senator can be in Washington.

“Quite frankly, your honor, that language is extremely prejudicial to the defense and it comes form the court. I think the court has disparaged the defense,” Menendez attorney Raymond Brown said.

Brown was not completely clear on which passage he was referring to, but it appears to be this part of Walls' opinion: “The Court suspects that the trial strategy behind this motion, if granted, would be to impress the jurors with the public importance of the defendant Senator and his duties. No other plausible reason comes to mind.”

Brown said that Walls was “ speculative as to our motives.” Brown and Walls then began talking over each other.

“Shut up for a moment if you don’t mind,” Walls said. “I said what I said” to “underscore what I considered the lack of merits in this motion," Walls added.

Walls said he “didn’t disparage you.”

“Now I feel quasi-insulted. You tell me where I have ever speculated to affect the interest of a defendant before a jury,” Walls said. “I want you to tell me where I have done something that reasonable jurors and lawyers would consider speculative and proactive.”

Menendez's attorney requested that the lines be struck from Walls’ opinion. Walls denied the request.

“What your request lacks is relevance. There is no relevance to the issues in this case found in your subpoenas. And so consequently, they’re not only vague, but they’re without relevance, and therefore the motion to quash is granted," he said.

10:12 AM

A federal judge overseeing the bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez rejected a request from the New Jersey Democrat's lawyers to enforce subpoenas sent to six federal agencies seeking information to bolster his defense case.

Menendez's attorneys and federal prosecutors had been squabbling for months over the scope of the defense subpoenas, which were sent to the federal agencies in late June.

But U.S. District Judge William Walls gave an unequivocal win to prosecutors on Wednesday when he quashed the subpoena requests.

“What your request lacks is relevance. There is no relevance to the issues in this case found in your subpoenas," Walls told lawyers for both sides. "And so consequently, they’re not only vague, but they’re without relevance, and therefore the motion to quash is granted.”

The issue goes to the heart of Menendez's defense from federal bribery and corruption charges, according to his lawyers, while the Justice Department countered that it was nothing more than a fishing expedition designed to try to turn up something to help the embattled senator. DOJ prosecutors have tried to quash the subpoenas for weeks.

The subpoena fight may also be a signal to both sides about how U.S. District Judge William Walls will handle the trial. Prosecutors have filed a motion to quash the subpoenas, and Walls is expected to rule soon.

The long-awaited trial — with huge stakes for Menendez, Garden State politics and the Senate — begins Wednesday in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey. Menendez and Dr. Salomon Melgen — a close friend and donor — have been charged with bribery, honest services fraud and conspiracy. Melgen allegedly gave Menendez free trips on his private plane and other gifts in return for the senator's help on several issues, including a multi-million dollars billing dispute with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Melgen has already been convicted in that case and is awaiting sentencing.

As they prepared their defense for the trial, Menendez's lawyers issued subpoenas to six federal agencies in late June, targeting the departments of States, Commerce, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security. CMS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection were also subpoenaed.

Menendez's lawyers seek information on CMS billing procedures regarding a drug used by Melgen on his patients. Melgen was convicted of overbilling the Medicare program millions of dollars for that drug.

The defense team is also seeking information on security problems at ports in the Dominican Republican, including whether drugs were sent to the United States through those ports. Menendez allegedly pressured the State Department to help Melgen with a $500 million contract for port security in the Dominican Republic.

Menendez's attorneys insist they have narrowed their document request — at Walls' direction — at the agencies need to turn over any information they have.

"Even under the narrowed requests Defendants now seek, the agencies (now recognizing the clock is ticking and likely aware of the Court’s statements to try to work out these issues before the Court rules on the prosecutors’ motion) have asserted blanket objections to the subpoenas, declined to negotiate whose files should be searched, and declined to search for documents, thus forcing Defendants to seek the Court’s intervention," the defense team said in a filing late Tuesday.

Prosecutors countered that the defense team had actually "broadened," not narrowed its requests. They also complained that Menendez's lawyers had never been specific about what documents they were demanding, but instead hoped to find something to bolster their assertion that Menendez was engaged in normal constituent work while aiding Melgen.



9:42 AM

NEWARK — A defiant Sen. Robert Menendez arrived at federal court Wednesday to begin his corruption trial.

“I have never backed away from a fight that I didn't believe was right, even if it meant opposing my own president and my own party. It’s who I am, and I’m not going to stop now,” Menendez said before entering the courthouse.

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.

“I’ve committed my entire adult life, since I was 19, fighting for the people of New Jersey,” Menendez told reporters as he was joined by his son and daughter and some supporters.

“I have always acted in accordance with the law,” Menendez said.

Opening arguments are expected to begin after a final juror is selected. One of the jurors selected two weeks ago dropped out for financial hardship.

The trial is expected to last at least six weeks. The case could have wide-ranging ramifications. Menendez faces a potentially lengthy prison sentence and the end of a long career in elected office. With the Republicans' 52-48 majority in the Senate, a Menendez departure from office before mid-January would enable Republican Gov. Chris Christie to appoint an interim replacement — presumably a Republican.

Menendez said he wanted to be present for the entire trial, but said he may decide to head to Washington to cast votes on major issues.

"I will make a discussion based upon the gravity of the situation and the difference my vote could make," he said.

The senator, wearing a dark blue suit, ignored shouted questions and then walked into the courthouse. He was forced to stand in line with dozens of other members of the public and then to walk through a metal detector.

Some supporters, including local officials, cheered his arrival outside. Two women waiting in line asked to take a photo in the lobby and Menendez obliged.

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