Closing Arguments in Menendez Bribery Case to Continue on Tuesday

Closing arguments in the corruption trial of Senator Robert Menendez are expected to continue on Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, where prosecutors have laid out a complex case accusing the senator of selling out his public office in pursuit of lucrative bribes.

Mr. Menendez, New Jersey’s senior senator and the former chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is accused of doing favors for foreign governments and businessmen in New Jersey in exchange for gifts.

On Monday, a federal prosecutor, Paul Monteleoni, described gold bars and “envelope after envelope” of cash seized from the senator’s home as evidence of a “clear pattern of corruption.”

And he sought to undermine arguments made during the trial by Mr. Menendez’s lawyers that the senator was unaware of gifts given to his wife, Nadine Menendez, who is also accused in the alleged bribery scheme. “You don’t get to be the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by being clueless,” he said.