as we mentioned if this all sounds familiar that's because the senator was tried for corruption 7 years ago that case in 2017 involved separate allegations that Menendez took bribes from a wealthy Florida eye doctor but it ended in a mistrial Menendez went on to win re-election and prosecutors in his current case alleg commit even more Brazen corrupt acts the Senator's defense attorneys claimed the government has been trying to get back at Menendez ever since joining me to talk about the nature of the new charges and what we can expect throughout this trial is former Federal prosecutor Chris Kion Chris Kion good to have you on the show I'm happy to get your perspective on this let me just ask you first what's different about this case for Senator Menendez this go around what do prosecutors have to prove well in this case they they they've alleged a much more specific quidd pro quo or this for that which is a standard that's required under Federal Juris Prudence to be able to proove an a conspiracy to commit extortion and bribery it can't it has to be specific if you do this for me if you exercise this official action on my behalf I will in turn give you this thing of value which in this case the indictment alleges is cash a luxury sports car and and gold bars Etc so they have to be able to connect um those cash payments uh the car there was a diamond ring in the mix as well they have to be able to directly connect those to the acts or the favors that Menendez uh carried out that's right it has to be specifically linked to that and it doesn't need to be in terms of the evidence that's provided to the jury you don't need to necessarily have it in writing and you know some written confession or recording if the circumstantial evidence is enough for them to conclude that then that's sufficient but the jury will get instructed that that that quid pro quo that this for that has to be specific um several years ago the Virginia governor MD McDonald the Supreme Court struck down a a theft of Hest Services prosecution under the same statute and they they ruled that this specificity was required and part of the reason that is is because an elected official like a senator in this case they carry out official sworn obligations and duties so the burden on the government is to be able to show he might have taken this official action or inaction or otherwise but the purpose of it was not because of his sworn senatorial obligations and duties it was to personally enrich himself or his loved ones or his family so they have to make that connection and prove it Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and so with that said would it be fair to assess that the prosecution has a stronger case this time than the corruption charges that were brought against the senator back in 2017 that trial of course ending in a hung jury oh just reading from the written indictments that were returned in each I I think so they came loaded for bear in this particular indictment and they've since superseded it as you're aware after one of the codefendants Jose ybe agreed to plead guilty and cooperate so they went into great detail what's commonly referred to as a speaking indictment to not just make the allegations but explain and corroborate how they arrive at that and the way they do that is through text Communications recordings emails and evidence of what's of concealment which is really valuable in a criminal prosecution because when you're often when when a jury is left to trying to determine if somebody has Criminal Intent to commit a crime if you can show some kind of concealment where a person a defendant tried to cover his or her tracks that's really indicative of their mental state and it goes very far in in the government being able to prove their case what do you make Chris of the jury selection process uh so far today do you expect it'll be difficult for the judge to to se a jury um as Brenda explained in her reporting some really colorful questions that were put before the prospective jurors should we expect this to take several days I well I do know this in the federal practice especially in southern eastern district district of New Jersey the judges have it down to a science in expeditiously picking juries they'll have a number of hundreds of prospective jurors sitting waiting in the wings and they'll bring in those jurors in the box and go through the questioning process the parties will have challenges for cause peremptory challenges but the goal is to get to 12 plus perhaps two or three alternates so again I'm it really all the facts are difficult to kind of assess everybody every case is different but it's hopeful that by the end of the week they're getting to opening statements with the jury imp panel and sworn in very quickly likelihood that we'll see those Infamous gold bars make a debut in the courtroom that's funny you asked that so uh if I was a prosecutor I would definitely want those in I would want the cash the physical evidence to be able to be presented to the jury um they don't necessarily get to take that stuff back to the jury room and they deliberate but in the course of presenting the government's case in Chief I would want that stuff to be used it's a strong visual no doubt Chris Kion is the former assistant us attorney for New Jersey Chris always good to have you on thanks so much likewise Brianna have a good day [Music]