New Jersey's top federal prosecutor testifies for government in Sen. Bob Menendez prosecution

New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor testified Wednesday at Sen. Bob Menendez 's bribery trial that the Democrat sought to discuss the prosecution of a New Jersey real estate developer with him before recommending him to the post after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger’s revelation in testimony that will continue on Thursday represented the second time in the five-week-old Manhattan federal court trial that a top law enforcement figure has said Menendez sought to speak about a criminal case affecting a New Jersey businessman.

Last week, a former New Jersey attorney general testified that Menendez twice confronted him about a pending criminal case affecting a New Jersey businessman, and both times the attorney general refused to discuss the subject.

Prosecutors say trying to intervene in criminal cases was one way Menendez, 70, tried to reward businessmen who paid him and his wife bribes of gold bars, tens of thousands of dollars in cash and a car.

When prosecutors charged Menendez, his wife and three businessmen last fall, they said in court papers that Menendez recommended Sellinger as U.S. attorney because he believed he could influence Sellinger to protect Fred Daibes, a prominent New Jersey real estate developer and longtime friend who faced federal criminal charges.

Daibes is standing trial with Menendez, along with another businessman, Wael Hana. All three have pleaded not guilty. A third businessman, Jose Uribe, completed four days on the witness stand on Wednesday after pleading guilty and agreeing to testify against the others.

A trial for Nadine Menendez was postponed on Wednesday until at least August, depending on the pace of her recovery from surgery for breast