Menendez attorney calls prosecutors’ evidence ‘deeply misleading’

On the 10th day of Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial, Menendez’s attorney attempted to cast doubt on the importance of a group of texts and other messages sent by Menendez and his co-defendants that prosecutors say are evidence of their guilt.

Menendez attorney Avi Weitzman argued Thursday that the collection of messages an FBI agent has spent much of this week testifying about — including very personal texts between Menendez and his wife, Nadine — includes errors and omits crucial context. Weitzman blamed prosecutors for leaving out information to make the messages seem more damning than they are.

“It leaves misimpressions left and right,” Weitzman said. “I am being an advocate for truth here because there are some misimpressions left.”

At issue is what’s called a summary chart, a document created by prosecutors that summarizes the thousands of texts, emails, voicemails, and other messages authorities say offer a timeline of the alleged crimes at the center of their case — with many of the messages transcribed verbatim.

Michael Coughlin, the FBI agent who has been on the stand since Tuesday, has been tasked with reading a lot of the messages aloud to jurors.

Weitzman attempted numerous times to refute the information in the summary chart by identifying errors — the chart’s first exchange between Menendez and his wife, Nadine, in December 2017 lists a 12-hour time gap, but in reality, it was 59 minutes — or claiming the chart omits context. Weitzman cited one example from Feb. 26, 2018.

That day, Nadine Menendez left a voicemail for Sen. Menendez, referring to him as her “very handsome senator” and asking him to meet with an Egyptian general (prosecutors allege Menendez provided aid to Egypt to benefit a co-defendant). The transcription of the call on the summary chart leaves out a portion of the voicemail where Nadine Menendez stressed that she didn’t want to fly to Washington, D.C., “just to meet with the general.”

Weitzman noted that prosecutors made the decision on what to include and exclude from the summary chart.

“You didn’t make that decision to excerpt and not include that portion in the summary chart,” Weitzman said. “That was the prosecutors’ decision, correct?”

“That’s correct, yes,” replied Coughlin.

Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting gold bars, cash, a luxury car, and more in exchange for the senator’s intervention in criminal prosecutions, disbursements of military aid, and international negotiations, among other things. Their co-defendants are Egyptian American businessman Wael Hana and real estate developer Fred Daibes. They have all pleaded not guilty. A fifth defendant, Jose Uribe, has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify for the prosecution.

Weitzman on Thursday said confusion over which “Fred” Sen. Menendez referred to in a text to his wife illustrates prosecutors’ aim to mislead jurors.

In the text, the senator told Nadine Menendez he “got a late start for dinner with Fred, who tells me he has been texting with you.” The next day, per the summary chart, the senator emailed the text of an Egypt-related bill to Fred Daibes.

“Do you know who the Fred is that he’s referencing?” Weitzman asked Coughlin about the text.

“My assumption is Fred Daibes,” Coughlin responded.

But it was an entirely different Fred, Weitzman contends — Fred Turner, Menendez’s former chief of staff.

“It is a different Fred. We know it is a different Fred. It’s Fred Turner and we can prove it,” Weitzman said.

Prosecutors objected, calling Weitzman’s line of questioning “argumentative.”

“They brought up the email and left a misimpression, your honor,” Weitzman said.

Coughlin will face a fourth day on the stand on Friday for cross-examination from lawyers for Daibes and Hana.