Jury selection continues in Menendez corruption trial

day two of the corruption trial against Senator Bob Menendez and jury selection is still underway the 70-year-old Democrat and his wife are accused of accepting cash gold bars and a mercedesbenz from three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for official political acts that would benefit the governments of Egypt and cutter Menendez his wife and two of the businessmen have pleaded not guilty the third is expected to be a star witness in the case after accepting a plea deal and agreeing to cooperate with the government Menendez sat alone at the defense table today while judge Sydney Stein continued interviewing prospective jurors in a back room sifting through 150 total vetting each person who said they couldn't sit for the trial which is expected to last until early July their reasons ranging from those who felt they couldn't be impartial to travel plans and curious medical conditions cameras aren't allowed inside the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan but our senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan was and she joins me now with the latest Brenda hey good to see you so day one no jury sat what can you tell us about the process today yeah no actual juror seated yet Bri we did get a pool of 89 jurors and the judge talked to them he had them all seated together on mass in the courtroom and what he was looking to try and do was instruct them that they needed to in assure him they could be fair and impartial he wanted to go through see if there were any conflicts of interest so do you know any of the defendants have you had any relationships with these attorneys do you have family who is in law enforcement he started to ask the jurors who would raise their hands all right what's your objection what's your problem can you still serve and be fair and impartial and then he listed some possible Witnesses people who might be mentioned in the trial and Brianna it was a total who's who first of all of of course naen Menendez the defend an's wife and then he listed US senators and just a partial list includes Corey Booker Marco Rubio Lindsey Graham Tim Scott Kirsten Cinema he talked about possibly including former treasury secretary Steve minuchin he talked about the Port Authorities Kevin oul uh Brian stack the mayor of uh Union City uh a couple of Qatari Shak uh the list of potential Witnesses was so long that he actually had to stop halfway through and take a drink of water but uh then he continued and he got to the mayor of Fort Lee Mark sakich David wildstein who was involved in Bridgegate he did work at the Port Authority there uh pleaded guilty turn States evidence and now is the head of the newe New Jersey Globe so this is going to be quite a parade yeah that that's a power list for sure you said it so can you give us any uh color on what some of the reasons were that jurors gave for why they couldn't either be in impartial or just show up in Manhattan for the next seven weeks yeah this is going to be a big commitment we're talking about a seven-week trial that apparently is going to go Monday through Friday 9: to5 so that's a lot to ask and the judge was very considerate people who thought that they might not be able to do this he called them all into a side room individ ually privately and he met with them and asked them what their issue was now we have juror 92 who was a single parent the judge said you're excused juror 94 had a non-refundable trip to Rome and the judge you know figured all right you've paid your money go ahead but he did say that he was tempted to ask for proof that the tickets were non-refundable jurors 97 and 110 completely different situation one said that they thought that these people are completely guilty and couldn't change their mind another one said their mind was made up the judge told them goodbye yeah juror 106 extreme fear of heights this courts on the 23rd floor and he was excused and juror 105 who has tickets to a Springsteen concert in Spain hey I mean was that's as good a reason as any let me ask you quickly Bren before you have to go did you see Menendez today and did you get a chance like yesterday to exchange any words actually when he was in the front of the court we were all sitting waiting for the judge to finish some business he came back to the back of the room and he talked to reporters I was there it was a non-substantive talk we did not discuss the trial and he was very pleasant very chatty very calm it if we had not been in the courtroom in Manhattan under these circumstances it would have been any other day with Bob Menendez he went back sat down in his seat and throughout most of the day he appeared very calm and very cool and collected as he sat there and waited for this whole drama to unfold Bri thanks Brenda Flanigan for us there in Manhattan Bren thanks you're welcome [Music]

Channel: NJ Spotlight News

Views: 527

Keywords: Bob Menendez, Fred Daibes, Jose Uribe, Manhattan federal court, Menendez trial, Nadine Menendez, Wael Hana, jurors, jury selection

Id: 8EgJ3IBDhz8

Length: 5min 25sec (325 seconds)

Published: Tue May 14 2024