Sen. Bob Menendez’s lawyer tells jury in closing that prosecutors failed to prove a single charge

NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for Sen. Bob Menendez on Tuesday urged jurors to acquit him of every charge at the Democrat’s New York City corruption trial, saying federal prosecutors had failed to prove a single count beyond a reasonable doubt.

The attorney, Adam Fee, told the Manhattan federal court jury that there were too many gaps in evidence that prosecutors wanted jurors to fill in to conclude crimes were committed.

And he defended over $100,000 in gold bars and more than $480,000 in cash found in an Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home during a 2022 FBI raid, although he acknowledged of the valuables: “It’s provocative. It’s atypical.”

“Prosecutors have not come close to meeting their burden to show you that any of the gold or cash was given to Senator Menendez as a bribe,” Fee said.

“This is a case with a lot of inferences,” he said, suggesting there were large gaps in the evidence that was unsupported by emails, texts or other evidence.

Earlier Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Monteleoni said in a closing statement that began Monday that the senator had engaged in “wildly abnormal” behavior in response to bribes, including trying to interfere in criminal cases handled by the top state and federal prosecutors in New Jersey.

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