Sen. Robert Menendez "put his power up for sale" and "betrayed the people he was supposed to serve," a prosecutor claimed Wednesday at the start of the New Jersey Democrat's federal bribery trial in New York.
Menendez has pleaded not guilty to 16 federal charges including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction.
Federal prosecutors in New York have alleged that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, mortgage payments and a luxury convertible in exchange for the senator's political clout. Three New Jersey businessmen who were also charged, along with the governments of Egypt and Qatar, were the alleged recipients.
"He was powerful. He was also corrupt," prosecutor Lara Pomerantz said of the senator during her opening statement. "In the United States of America, leaders are expected to put their country first, to put the interests of the people they serve above their own. This case is about a public official who put greed first."
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Pomerantz pointed at Menendez, who was seated at the defense table with his head turned toward the jurors.
"This is Robert Menendez, a United States senator from New Jersey, and he was entrusted to make big decisions, including decisions that affect this country's national security," Pomerantz said. "Robert Menendez was a United States senator on the take, motivated by greed, focused on how much money he could put in his own pocket and in his wife's pocket. That is why you're here today. That is what this trial is all about."
His price, Pomerantz told the jury, was gold bars, envelopes stuffed with cash, checks to his wife for a no-show job and a Mercedes-Benz convertible.
"This was not politics as usual. This was politics for profit," Pomerantz said. "The FBI found gold bars and over $400,000 in cash in Menendez's home, in a safe, in jacket pockets, in shoes, all over the house."
Sen. Bob Menendez arrives at Manhattan Federal Court, in New Yor...Show more ---Show more
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
The seated jury, which was selected and sworn in earlier Wednesday, includes a retired economist, an occupational therapist who likes "hanging out with my dog," an attorney originally from Michigan and someone who "had a nephew locked up for molestation." All pledged to be fair.
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"I'm going to ask, to the extent you feel comfortable, to minimize your news intake," Judge Sidney Stein told prospective jurors at one point.
Two co-defendants were seated in the Manhattan courtroom behind Menendez, who wore a navy suit and dark pink tie.
A third co-defendant pleaded guilty ahead of the trial.
The senator's wife, who was also charged in the case, will be tried separately in July due to a medical condition.
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Before opening statements, the judge precluded testimony from a psychiatrist the defense hoped would bolster Menendez's claim that he stashed cash in his home as a result of a "fear of scarcity." Menendez, the son of Cuban immigrants, has said it was part of his upbringing to keep cash lying around, but Stein said the psychiatrist's testimony "just doesn't stand up."
Menendez is the first sitting member of Congress to be charged with conspiracy by a public official to act as a foreign agent.
The senator has maintained his innocence since his initial indictment last year.
In March, he announced that will not seek another term as a Democrat but he left open the possibility of running in November as an independent.