Menendez attorney wraps up closing arguments in senator’s federal corruption trial

Sen. Bob Menendez’s defense attorney wrapped up his closing arguments Wednesday, saying the case against the New Jersey Democrat was “shaky and rotten to its core.”

Sen. Bob Menendez’s defense attorney wrapped up his closing arguments Wednesday, saying the case against the New Jersey Democrat was “shaky and rotten to its core.” “This case dies here today because they have failed to prove, they have failed to prove to that very high standard that Bob’s actions were anything other than exactly what we want our elected officials to do. He was doing his job, and he was doing it well,” the senator’s attorney Adam Fee said in Manhattan criminal court. “Resist the temptation to pick a salacious story about a corrupt politician because it’s not, it’s not there, ” Fee said. “You must acquit because there is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Bob took anything in exchange for a particular official action.” Menendez and his co-defendants, New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, are accused of participating in a yearslong bribery scheme. Federal prosecutors say the senator tried to use his power to advance Egyptian military interests, interfere in criminal prosecutions, and secure investment from Qatari officials, among other things. Menendez and his wife allegedly received gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, a Mercedes Benz convertible and other bribes in exchange for his influence. The senator’s wife, Nadine Menendez, was also charged in the case, but will be tried separately later this year after she was granted a delay by the judge so she can focus on her treatment for breast cancer. She has pleaded not guilty. Bob Menendez’s team called a total of five witnesses to testify in his defense during the trial, though not the senator himself. In all, 37 witnesses were called over the nine-week trial.