NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Attorneys for U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez argued in court Thursday that the corruption case against him should be dismissed because the grand jury that indicted him was biased, prosecutors used hearsay evidence and salacious material was presented to inflame jurors.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (John Moore, Getty Images)
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In a 22-count indictment unsealed in April, Menendez was accused of accepting cash and gifts from Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen in exchange for lobbying on behalf of Melgen's business interests. Menendez and Melgen filed more than a dozen motions last month to dismiss the indictment.

Lawyers for Menendez and Melgen argued that the government made serious mistakes with the case and that charges should be dropped.

Defense lawyers said prosecutors gave bad information to the grand jury that indicted the pair, included irrelevant suggestions of sexual dalliances between Melgen and women other than his wife and provided no evidence that Melgen and Menendez struck a deal to do anything corrupt.

"What it charges is a non-charge," Menendez lawyer Abbe Lowell told U.S. District Judge William Walls. "What it charges was given was influence and access."

The arguments continue the defense's position in court papers: What happened was not criminal, even if it can appear unseemly.

Menenedez's lawyers argued that he was doing his job as a lawmaker when he lobbied federal agencies on issues that concerned Melgen.

It's not clear when Walls might rule on any of the motions. He told the defense lawyers that he was not swayed by the idea that the law could not have been broken because Melgen and Menendez are longtime friends.

"Friends can be corrupt," said the judge, who challenged and cajoled lawyers throughout the hearing. "I can give you histories of politics in New Jersey where friends went to jail because they were corrupt."

Federal prosecutors were set to argue their side Thursday afternoon.

Defense lawyers also said investigators were wrong to use certain anonymous tips as the basis of seeking a search warrant. One tip said that Menendez and Melgen were going to the Dominican Republic to have sex with underage prostitutes. There were no charges related to those allegations, though, and lawyers argued that the government should not have relied on them because they were not credible.

A trial is scheduled for mid-October, but defense attorneys filed a motion this week, unopposed by the prosecution, to have the date pushed back to give time for expected appeals of Walls' pretrial rulings.

 

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