Staff Reports
The trial of Senator Bob Menendez had to take a break for a whole week because the federal court jurors had a little trouble – they got stuck in an elevator! The jurors were in the middle of a 10-minute break when the elevator broke down and they were stuck for a bit longer than expected.
This elevator mix-up happened just after the jurors had to move to a different assembly room because there was flooding in their usual room. Someone had left the sink faucets on over the weekend, and the carpeting got all wet. The judge told the jurors, in a joking way, to be careful and not all get into one elevator as they left for the day.
Trial of Sen. Bob Menendez takes a weeklong break after jurors get stuck in elevatorhttps://t.co/BwITzhYawj pic.twitter.com/ulYRSIgw6H
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) May 22, 2024
The prosecutors had been slowly trying to show the jury their evidence against Senator Menendez and his two co-defendants, who they say paid him bribes in the form of gold bars, lots of cash, and a car. But the lawyers for Menendez and the businessmen say their clients are innocent. They say the government is trying to make regular interactions between a politician and the people who vote for him into crimes.
One of the witnesses on Tuesday used to work for the State Department when the prosecutors say Menendez was using his powerful position as the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to do special things for Egypt. The prosecutors say he did these things so that the bribes would keep coming in.
When Menendez got arrested last year, he had to step down from his job as the head of the committee, even though some people wanted him to leave the Senate altogether. The prosecutors say that Menendez did things to help Egyptian officials, and in return, he’d get bribes. They also say he was acting like a spy for Egypt.
The trial will continue when the jurors come back from their unexpected break, and they’ll keep looking at the evidence to decide what really happened.
