Prosecutors rest their case against Sen. Bob Menendez

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors rested their case Friday against Sen. Bob Menendez and two men accused of bribing him as they began it — focusing on the fishy amounts of cash and gold bars they found in his home stuffed almost comically into bags, boots and jackets.

Defense attorneys are expected to call their own witnesses and the trial is unlikely to end until mid-July.

But the trial of a U.S. Senator who led the Foreign Relations Committee until his indictment last fall is also looking to end as it began in another way: drowned out by other news. The New Jersey Democrat’s trial began as former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial was going on a block away in Manhattan. It is reaching its end after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate appearance the night before set off a massive conversation about the future of the Democratic Party that Menendez, who was once floated as Al Gore’s running mate, will have no significant part of.

Prosecutors called over two dozen witnesses, including their star witness who described vivid details of meetings with the senator and his now-wife, Nadine, and has pleaded guilty to bribing them both. But their case relies heavily on years of documents — including phone, text, bank and email records — that jurors will have to draw conclusions from.

The senator is accused of selling his office to disrupt state and federal criminal cases; helping the Egyptian government obtain American military aid; and boosting a real estate deal between a prominent New Jersey developer and a member of the Qatari royal family.

The developer, Fred Daibes, has denied bribing the senator. But his attorney admits Daibes gave the couple gifts of cash and gold and wants to argue Daibes is habitually generous. On Friday, prosecutors showed evidence that suggested they have tied over $80,000 in cash and over a quarter million dollars in gold associated with the Menendezes to Daibes’ largesse.

Nadine — who was to be tried with her husband, Daibes and Egyptian-American business man Wael “Will” Hana — has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will be tried separately.

Nonetheless, her name appears incessantly in the trial. Prosecutors say she acted as go-between for the senator and the men bribing him.

Defense attorneys for Menendez are eager to show the senator and Nadine, whom he married in 2020, lived “separate lives.” Throughout the trial, the senator’s attorneys have highlighted text messages Nadine exchanged on her own with the men accused of bribing the senator, meetings she attended alone and even parts of their New Jersey home that only she supposedly used where gold and cash were found by FBI agents during their 2022 search.

The extent of Menendez’s defense, which is expected to include a handful of witnesses, is still uncertain and awaiting rulings by U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein on what jurors can see.

Friday ended with one of several repeated — and often extremely tedious — fights over the age and provenance of cash found in the Menendez home. These arguments, which have gone on several times with several witnesses, focus on when cash found in the Menendez home was printed and put into circulation by the U.S. government.

That battle played out in the final minutes of the prosecution's case, which began in mid-May and ended just after lunchtime on Friday. Prosecutors presented evidence that hundreds of thousands of dollars seized by the FBI in its search of the Menendezes’ home and Nadine’s safe deposit box contained $100 bills printed after 2018, the alleged start of the bribery schemes.

Menendez’s defense attorney tried to cast doubt on the government’s case by showing other bills were printed earlier and could back up the senator’s financial alibi, which is that he hoarded cash because of his family’s experience with communist Cuba.

“They have not proven their case,” Menendez told reporters after the prosecutors rested.

After the defense puts on its case by calling witnesses, there will be closing arguments by both sides.