N.J. senator’s son says defendants ‘like brothers’
Judge rules that Dem will have to face full roster of 18 charges
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial moved forward Monday after a federal judge declined to throw out any of the 18 charges against the Democratic senator and his co-defendant, Salomon Melgen.
Attorneys for Menendez, DN.J., and Melgen called Menendez’s son, Robert Jr., and Melgen’s wife, Flor, to testify.
A key element of the senator’s defense is that he and the doctor are such close friends that they would never think of or need to engage in bribery.
“They’re the best when they’re together,” Robert Menendez Jr., 32, said in response to questions from defense attorney Jenny Kramer. “They’re like brothers to each other. There’s no person that my dad has that type of relationship with. It’s different than all his other friendships.”
The senator’s son got emotional describing the death of his grandmother — his father’s mother — because of Alzheimer’s and the trip Melgen made to be with the senator in his time of mourning.
“It meant a lot,” Menendez said. When she took the stand, Flor Melgen said her husband and the senator are so close that her family often referred to them by a single name: “Sabob.”
Melgen misunderstood a question posed by defense attorney Kirk Ogrosky and translated by a Spanish interpreter in which Ogrosky asked whether Melgen had a relationship with the senator independent of her husband.
“I am married, and I am loyal to my husband,” Melgen said to laughter by jurors and others in the courtroom.
“I’d like to strike that question,” Ogrosky said. “Is Mr. Menendez a friend of yours also?”
“Yes, he is,” Melgen replied. “And I always look forward to that call I get on my birthday when he sings to me.”
U.S. District Court Judge William Walls ruled against a defense motion arguing that prosecutors, who rested their case last week, failed to present enough evidence to prove their accusations.
In its 18-count indictment, the government accused Sen. Menendez of lobbying Obama administration officials on Melgen’s behalf in exchange for bribes in the form of flights on Melgen’s private jet, luxury vacations and more than $700,000 in political contributions.
Both men deny the allegations. Walls ruled that the “stream of benefits” theory of bribery was not invalidated by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2016 that restricted the reach of federal bribery laws.
Walls had suggested during oral arguments last week that language in the high court’s opinion overturning the conviction of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell required prosecutors to show that Menendez agreed to do a specific official act on behalf of Melgen, a Florida eye doctor and longtime friend, at the same time he agreed to accept a specific gift or payment.
The government alleges a less formal type of corruption: that Melgen bribed Menendez with a “stream of benefits” to influence Menendez’s actions “as opportunities arose.”
In a filing over the weekend, prosecutors wrote that invalidating the “stream of benefits” theory would not only damage their case against Menendez but also “jettison the vast majority of bribery prosecutions” and “broadly legalize pay-to-play politics.”
Walls said Monday he could find no reason to invalidate the theory.
“I see nothing in McDonnell that attacks the ‘ stream of benefits’ theory,” he said.