https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...478688d23b4_story.html?utm_term=.90d028209ba1
Federal prosecutors will face off Wednesday against Sen. Robert Menendez in a courtroom in Newark, where opening arguments are scheduled in the first trial in almost a decade of a sitting U.S. Senator.
Menendez, a senior Democrat, has labored under the shadow of his indictment on corruption charges for more than two years. Federal prosecutors say he became a senator on retainer to a wealthy Florida eye doctor who plied him with luxury hotel stays, private jet flights, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations. In exchange, prosecutors say, Menendez repeatedly use his office to try to help the doctor.
That help, according to the indictment, ranged from trying to resolve an $8.9 million billing dispute for medical procedures, to seeking visas for the doctors girlfriends so they could visit him in the United States.
Prosecutors plan to call a wide range of witnesses including jet pilots, former public officials, and even members of Menendezs staff to paint a picture of what they say is a seven-year scheme between Menendez and the eye doctor, Salomon Melgen.
Although Menendez did not pay Melgen back for the lavish gifts in money, he did pay him back using the currency of his Senate office to take official action to benefit the South Florida doctor, prosecutors wrote in a court filing last week.
In response, Menendezs lawyer called the prosecutors filing a lengthy, lurid and one-sided narrative of the case that could improperly influence jurors, and urged the judge overseeing the case to question jurors about it.
The senator and the doctor have long denied wrongdoing, saying what prosecutors see as corruption were vacations taken by two friends.
The benefits of that friendship, according to the indictment, included stays at exclusive spots in the Dominican Republic, and a stay at a Paris hotel that cost more than $1,500 a night.
Menendez allegedly returned those favors by lobbying to help Melgen win a multimillion-dollar billing dispute with Medicare, pressuring U.S. diplomatic officials to assist the doctor in a contract dispute he was having with the government of the Dominican Republic, and getting visas for women dating Melgen to enter the United States.
Melgen was convicted in April of defrauding Medicare, but prosecutors say they dont plan to tell the Newark jury about that conviction unless the defense opens the door.
The trial is expected to last up to two months, and will likely feature testimony from former Obama administration officials who say they were pressured by Menendez to help Melgen.
If convicted on some of the dozen charges against him, Menendez faces the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence. But exactly how and when he might leave the Senate if he is found guilty could have major ramifications for legislation, in a year when a single Senate vote can tilt the balance on major bills.
If Menendez leaves office before January 17, 2018, New Jerseys Republican governor Chris Christie can appoint a temporary replacement. That could give Republicans an added advantage on a range of issues, including any renewed attempt to repeal Obamacare. But expulsion is not automatic, even for a convicted senator, and Menendez could try to stick around long enough to outlast the governor.