Menendez Defense Rests Without Senator Testifying

After calling just four witnesses, lawyers for Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey rested their case late Wednesday afternoon in Manhattan federal court, setting the stage for jurors to begin deliberations in his international bribery conspiracy trial early next week.

Mr. Menendez, 70, said that he decided against testifying in his own defense for two primary reasons.

The government, he said, had not proved its case, and he did not want to give prosecutors an opportunity to rehash the charges twice — once on cross-examination and again in closing arguments.

That was “simply not something that makes any sense to me whatsoever,” Mr. Menendez said as he left the courthouse after proceedings ended for the day.

“I expect my lawyers will produce a powerful and convincing summation, deduce how the evidence came out, where they failed across the board, and have the jury render a verdict of not guilty,” he added.

Final summations in the case — first by prosecutors, then by lawyers for Mr. Menendez and two co-defendants, followed by a government rebuttal — are likely to begin as early as Monday afternoon, according to the judge, Sidney H. Stein of Federal District Court.