The opening statements of the federal corruption case of Senator Robert Menendez centered on the question: What constitutes a permissible friendship with a politician?
NEWARK — Senator Robert Menendez spent seven years enjoying a “life of luxury he could not afford” in return for acting as a personal senator to a wealthy ophthalmologist in Florida, federal prosecutors told jurors here on Wednesday during the opening chapter of a case whose outcome could reverberate far beyond New Jersey.
But a defense lawyer argued that those actions were rooted in a friendship — “that one word, friendship, that the evidence will show is the true nature of that relationship. And acting out of friendship is not improper, it is not corrupt, it is not illegal.”
As both the prosecution and the defense presented their opening statements in the federal corruption case against Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, and Dr. Salomon Melgen, the ophthalmologist, they offered little in the way of new evidence or facts. Instead, they debated questions that will be central to the case: What constitutes a permissible friendship with a politician? What represents an official act by a senator? And whom does a senator work for and represent?
The case has attracted wide interest because it is the first time in decades that a sitting United States Senator faces a federal bribery trial and the verdict could have broad political implications at a time of deep polarization in Washington.
“This case isn’ t really about what happened, it’s about why it happened, ” Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Mr. Menendez, said. Mr. Lowell said Dr. Melgen and Mr. Menendez had been friends for many years and the doctor had given Mr. Menendez gifts well before he entered the Senate.
A lawyer for Dr. Melgen, Kirk Ogrosky, made a similar argument. “I’ m here to tell you that every single thing my client shared with his friend and every single political contribution he gave was out of friendship done out of sincere belief that Senator Menendez was good for this country, ” he said.
But the lead prosecutor in the case, Peter Koski, said a corrupt relationship could still exist between friends.
“There is no friendship exception to bribery, ” Mr. Koski said. “There is no friendship exception to lying on your financial disclosure forms. There is no friendship exception to breaking the law.”
Critical to the prosecution’s case will be linking the timing of Dr. Melgen’s gifts with actions taken by Mr. Menendez promoting his interests. Mr. Koski repeatedly told jurors to pay attention to “the timing, communication and the escalation of action with the escalation of money.”
He walked jurors through the timing of a donation by Dr. Melgen and communications between Mr. Menendez and officials at the Department of State. It began, he said, with an email on April 30,2012, from Mr. Menendez’s chief of staff to Dr. Melgen asking for $60,000. On May 16, the doctor made a donation to groups supporting Mr. Menendez, the same day that Mr. Menendez met with an assistant secretary of state to discuss port security in the Dominican Republic, an area in which Dr. Melgen had a financial interest.
He offered similar summaries of timing and action involving a meeting among Mr. Menendez and officials from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as a later meeting with Kathleen Sebelius, then the secretary of Department of Health and Human Services.
Mr. Koski also noted repeatedly that Dr. Melgen was not a constituent of Mr. Menendez, telling jurors that Mr. Menendez’s website said, “If you are not a New Jersey resident, I will refer your inquiry to your home state senators.”
He continued: “All this to enrich one man who didn’ t even live in the state Mr. Menendez was elected to represent.”
But Mr. Lowell argued that senators are “national legislators” who have interests and obligations outside their state.
And he sought to rebut the corrupt behavior that the prosecution was alleging. The meeting with health agencies, Mr. Lowell said, was to intervene in what Mr. Menendez considered overbilling by big pharmaceutical companies in placing limits on the use of eye medicine and was not solely about a billing dispute involving Dr. Melgen as the prosecution described.
Mr. Lowell continued: As for the port in the Dominican Republic, Mr. Menendez was motivated not by Dr. Melgen’s interests but more broadly by national security concerns. And when Mr. Menendez helped secure visas for Dr. Melgen’s girlfriends, he was simply doing something he had done thousands of times as a senator.
While the first day was mostly laden with complex legal arguments, Mr. Ogrosky said the coming weeks could feature women taking the witness stand and scandalous accusations about his client’s relationships.
“This is not a case about Dr. Melgen’s personal life, ” he said, adding that the prosecution “wants to trot these girlfriends in front of you just so you can see them.”
The details of the plot laid out by Mr. Koski have been well known since Mr. Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges more than two years ago: that Dr. Melgen bestowed lavish gifts of private flights, luxury accommodations and free vacations on the senator. He also contributed more than $700,000 in direct and indirect political donations to Mr. Menendez.
Underscoring the high-profile nature of the case was the presence in the federal courthouse of Mr. Menendez’s colleague and fellow New Jersey Democrat, Senator Cory Booker, who at one point strode across a hallway toward Mr. Menendez, shaking his hand before pulling him in for a hug. The two whispered in each other ears, well out of earshot of reporters.
Mr. Menendez arrived at the courthouse Wednesday morning accompanied by his son, Robert Jr., and his daughter, Alicia, and declared that he would be vindicated “when all the facts are known.”
“Never, not once, not once have I dishonored my public office, ” he said.
He was greeted by a group of supporters and he thanked them and the many others who have called to lend their support, growing emotional with his voice cracking slightly.
