U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez is a Democratic lawmaker from New Jersey who has been in office for a long time. The defense rested its case on Wednesday without asking Menendez to testify.
Shortly before his legal team rested their case, Menendez reportedly told trial judge U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein that he would not take the stand in his own defense.
The 70-year-old senator is being tried separately in New York on bribery, obstruction, and foreign agent charges alongside his spouse, Nadine. Bob Menendez is charged with accepting bribes totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for his political clout.
It is anticipated that his trial would move forward to closing arguments on Monday after it started eight weeks ago. Following Wednesday’s court session, Menendez told reporters he decided not to testify because he felt his lawyers have refuted the case against him. He and his wife have both entered not guilty pleas to all of the allegations.
“From my perspective, the government has failed to prove every aspect of its case, and for me to testify and give them another chance for a second summation — go through the whole case again, and then go ahead and have their summation, and then have a rebuttal case at the end — it’s simply something that doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever,” he stated.
