George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Wednesday the Justice Department was trying to get a jury to “see a trend” involving expensive gifts to Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
Menendez was the subject of a superseding indictment issued Tuesday that alleged the senator and his wife received gifts, including luxury watches and tickets to the Florida Grand Prix, in exchange for positive comments about Qatar. Menendez was previously hit with three counts in an indictment unsealed in September, according to a release by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. (RELATED: ‘He’s Stuck With This’: Fox Legal Analyst Says Menendez Faces ‘Smoking Gun Evidence’ In Bribery Case)
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“This really sounds like saturation,” Turley told “America Reports” co-host John Roberts. “The problem is that when the jury looks at each of these counts with valuable gifts coming from various foreign sources, they’re going to see a trend and they’re not going to be very sympathetic for an officeholder and saying, ‘Well, I just have really generous associates.’ So part of the problem for the defense here is the pattern.”
Menendez already had been charged with receiving numerous gifts from New Jersey businessmen with connections to Egypt, including $480,000 in cash, bars of gold and a luxury automobile, allegedly in exchange for pushing for policies to aid the Egyptian government.
“I think that what the senator hopes for once again, is a hung jury,” Turley added. “I can’t imagine that he thinks he can get an acquittal on this. But he has shown in the past that with a hung jury, you could do a lot, including stay in — in — in the Senate.”
Menendez faced a trial in 2017 after being indicted on corruption charges, but the trial ended with a hung jury.
Menendez did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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