Washington – Attorneys for Sen. Bob Menendez wrapped up calling witnesses Wednesday, opting not to have the New Jersey Democrat take the stand in his own defense as he fights allegations who exchanged political favors for gold bars and cash.
A handful of witnesses testified on his behalf, compared to the 30 witnesses called by the prosecution during the trial, which has lasted eight weeks so far.
Menendez's defense attorneys called his sister and his wife's sisterNadine Menendez, testified Monday as they tried to show that it was not unusual for the couple to keep gold and large amounts of cash in their home.
When federal investigators executed a search warrant at Menendez's home in June 2022, they found over $480,000 in cash stored in envelopes, coats, shoes and bags, as well as 13 gold bars worth more than $100,000.
Menendez, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged with bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt. Nadine Menéndez has also pleaded not guilty. His judgment was postponed until August when she recovers from breast cancer surgery.
The senator's older sister, Caridad Gonzalez, told jurors that her parents and aunt had a practice of storing cash at home after their family fled persecution in Cuba in 1951, before Menendez was born He called the habit “a Cuban thing.”
“Dad always said don't trust the banks,” Gonzalez said. “If you trust the banks, you never know what can happen, so you should always have money at home.”
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He recalled finding a stash of cash in a shoebox in Menendez's home in the 1980s.
But prosecutors undermined one of the points Gonzalez made after she testified that she asked her brother to help a neighbor with an immigration problem. Prosecutors showed text messages between the senator and his sister that suggest he did not give the matter the same treatment that prosecutors say was given to businessmen who bribed the couple.
The businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, are on trial with the senator. They have also pleaded not guilty.
When they asked Menendez for help, he allegedly pressured a U.S. Department of Agriculture official to protect Hana's monopoly on halal certification and interfered in a criminal case in New Jersey involving Daibes, according to prosecutors.
Russell Richardson, a forensic accountant, testified that Menendez withdrew about $400 in cash almost every few weeks from 2008 to 2022, totaling more than $150,000.
The testimony was intended to bolster Menendez's explanation that he withdrew thousands of dollars in cash from his bank account over decades because of his family's experience in Cuba.
Richardson testified on cross-examination that he found no record of Menendez withdrawing $10,000 in cash at one time. Some of the money seized from Menendez's home was found in $10,000 bundles, and Daibes' fingerprints were found on some of the envelopes containing the cash.
Part of Menéndez's defense strategy has been blame his wifealleging that the senator was unaware of his wife's financial challenges and her dealings with businessmen accused of bribing them.
Nadine Menendez's younger sister, Katia Tabourian, stated that her sister and the senator split in late 2018 because her sister's ex-boyfriend “was creating a lot of chaos in her relationship with the senator.” Menendez's lawyers say the couple could not have conspired together during the break in their relationship.
Tabourian confirmed that her sister locked the bedroom closet, which Menendez's attorneys said did not have a key. Investigators found gold bars and cash in the closet during the search in 2022. Tabourian said it was common for her family to give away cash, gold and jewelry.
Jurors are expected to hear the case late next week, following testimony from Hana's witnesses and closing arguments. Daibes' legal team rested on Wednesday without presenting a defense.
—Ash Kalmar contributed to this report.
