With the corruption trial of Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey underway on Thursday, a prosecutor handed a juror in the first row of the jury box a plastic bag containing an object at the heart of the government's case: a gold bar that glinted under the courtroom lights. One by one, jurors held the bag, turning it over in their hands and feeling its weight before passing it to their neighbor the jury's first tangible exposure to evidence prosecutors say was a bribe paid to Mr. Menendez, 70, and his wife.
The senator and two of the businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes are being tried together in Manhattan federal court. Ms. Menendez, 57, was to be tried with them, but her trial was postponed after her lawyers said she had a serious medical condition. On Thursday, the senator revealed that Ms. Menendez was being treated for breast cancer and was preparing to undergo a mastectomy and possible radiation treatment.
[
add
]
[
|
|
...
]