Corruption trial for New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez begins with jury selection Monday

NEW YORK — Jury selection began on Monday in the corruption trial of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, with a judge excusing dozens of prospective jurors in a case that could affect Menendez's political future and the makeup of the U.S. Senate next year.

Menendez, 70, faces 16 criminal charges including bribery, fraud and acting as a foreign agent, and is being tried alongside two New Jersey businessmen in Manhattan federal court.

The senator's wife, Nadine Menendez, has also been charged but will be tried separately. All four defendants have pleaded not guilty.

U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein told prospective jurors that the trial could last six to seven weeks.

The judge excused more than three dozen prospective jurors, after he and lawyers for both sides spent more than three hours speaking privately with those who did not want to serve.

Menendez, New Jersey's senior senator, sat quietly in the courtroom during this process, only occasionally reading or speaking with one of his lawyers.

Prosecutors have accused the Menendezes of accepting cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for the senator wielding his political influence in New Jersey and to help the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

The senator allegedly promised to help Egypt obtain arms sales and other military aid, and helped defendant Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman, obtain a lucrative monopoly on the certification of halal meat exports to Egypt.

Prosecutors also said Menendez tried to help defendant Fred Daibes, a prominent New Jersey developer, obtain millions of dollars from a Qatari investment fund, and sought to disrupt a federal criminal case against Daibes in New Jersey.

Much of the cash received by the Menendezes was stuffed inside clothing at their home, prosecutors said.

Menendez and his wife also face obstruction of justice charges. The alleged crimes occurred between 2018 and 2023.

A fifth defendant, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty to bribery and fraud charges in March and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Defense motion

Menendez, who became a senator in 2006, is up for re-election in November and if exonerated hopes to run for a fourth full term as an independent.

He has resisted calls, including from many Democratic senators, to resign, though he gave up being chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee following his September indictment.

Democrats and independents who caucus with them hold a 51-49 Senate majority. Several seats held by Democrats or independents may be closely contested in November, and a Democratic seat in West Virginia is expected to turn Republican.

Nadine Menendez's trial is scheduled for July 8. Her case was separated after her lawyers said she developed a serious medical condition that required a lengthy recovery.

Lawyers for Robert Menendez have suggested in court papers that if he testified he may try to blame his wife.

His lawyers said Menendez could explain what they discussed during dinners with Egyptian officials and offer his wife's explanation for why Hana and Uribe "provided her certain monetary items."

The defense team also wants a psychiatrist to testify that the senator routinely stored cash in his home because of a "fear of scarcity."

Defense lawyers said this was a "coping mechanism" after the Cuban government seized his family's assets before he was born, and his father died by suicide after Menendez stopped paying his gambling debts.

Menendez's corruption trial is his second.

In 2017, a New Jersey federal judge declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on whether Menendez broke the law by providing help to a wealthy ophthalmologist, Salomon Melgen, in exchange for lavish gifts and political contributions.

Several other current and former members of Congress also face federal criminal charges, including Representative Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, and former representative George Santos, a New York Republican.

While New Jersey voters lean Democratic, fewer than one in six polled in March by Monmouth University, opens new tab and Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill, opens new tab approved of Menendez's job performance. Even fewer said they would vote for him as an independent.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ Senator Menendez corruption trial starts today