Trump circus overshadows Menendez trial
CNN
Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial, which is taking place less than 500 feet away from Donald Trump’s hush money trial, has mostly been an afterthought to many.
Andrew Giuliani broke away from the press scrum across the street from former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial Tuesday and, holding his phone aloft as he livestreamed the latest from Lower Manhattan, promised his audience “more coverage here shortly.” Asked about the other trial of note in the area – around the corner, less than 500 feet away – the son of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani squinted into the middle distance from Manhattan Criminal Court, where the defense had just rested its case. After a brief, confused silence, he smiled. “That’s right, of course,” the onetime candidate for New York governor said. “Forgot about that.” He’s not the only one. Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial, which began eight days ago in the nearby US District Court, has been an afterthought to just about everyone – Republican, Democrat, hot dog vendor – in this maze of government buildings, bodegas, tiny green parks and chain coffee shops. The New Jersey Democrat has been charged by federal prosecutors with accepting bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars – some of the payments allegedly delivered in the form of gold bars – in exchange for assorted favors for a trio of local businessmen and two foreign governments and then conspiring to cover it up after being indicted. The 70-year-old has insisted on his innocence, as have his two co-defendants, who have also pleaded not guilty.
The first week of testimony in Brian Walshe’s murder trial in Dedham, Massachusetts, has come to an end. The jury heard from about two dozen witnesses called by the commonwealth in its case against Walshe as prosecutors work to prove he killed his wife, Ana Walshe, around New Year’s Day in 2023.
The US Army officially stood up a new command on Friday to oversee the Army’s activities in the Western Hemisphere in the latest signal of increasing focus on homeland defense.
A former high-level Drug Enforcement agent was indicted on charges of conspiring to traffic drugs and launder millions of dollars for a Mexican cartel.
A federal judge in Florida ordered the unsealing of grand jury transcripts and other records in the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein granting the Justice Department’s request.
The Indiana House approved new congressional maps designed to hand Republicans all nine of the state’s US House seats on Friday, setting the stage for a showdown next week in the state Senate.
Honduran presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla said last-minute interference from US President Donald Trump in the country’s closely fought election had damaged his chances of winning and left him trailing as vote counting dragged on.
Vice President JD Vance said he and second lady Usha Vance are largely amused by the online chatter dissecting their marriage, including a recent spate of headlines over photos of her without a wedding ring.
During interviews with the FBI, the suspect arrested in the pipe bomb probe told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen, providing perhaps the first indication of a possible motive for the bombs placed near the DNC and RNC headquarters, people briefed on the matter said.
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