for the second time in less than a decade New Jersey senior US senator today found himself inside a federal courtroom on trial for bribery and Corruption charges this time Bob Menendez is fighting allegations that he traded his political influence for Cash Gold Bars and other luxuries to benefit three New Jersey businessmen and Aid the governments of Egypt and cutter as jury selection got underway the 70-year-old Democrat sat with his lawyers and two of his codefendants New Jersey businessmen Fred Davies and whale Hannah who are accused of paying Menendez the bribes a third businessman Jose yube accepted a plea deal and is cooperating with the government while the Senator's wife naen Menendez a key figure in the case will be tried separately in July after she undergoes surgery for an undisclosed medical condition Menendez is facing 16 felony charges including bribery fraud obstruction of justice and acting as an unregistered foreign agent of which he's pleaded not guilty judge Sydney Stein today said once the jury is selected the trial is expected to last up to seven weeks senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan was one of a handful of reporters who got to the courthouse early enough to get a seat inside the room and joins us from Manhattan with the latest Brenda Brianna most of today was spent on jury selection here over at the federal courthouse in Manhattan that's day one of a trial that's expected expected to run six or seven weeks Senator Bob Mendez again fighting charges of bribery and Corruption he's accused of selling his influence using it to benefit his co-conspirators businessmen in New Jersey but also foreign governments Egypt and cter now in exchange he got allegedly hundreds of thousands of dollars and gold bars that agents found stashed around his house that were used to fund a lavish lifestyle for himself and his wife naen now this morning Menendez breezed into the courthouse at a brisk walk I saw him right outside the courtroom we exchanged a pleasant good morning he seemed upbeat he was smiling talking with his attorneys but he's been through this before he beat a corruption rap back in 2017 with a hung jury but it's apparent that there's some tension between menendez's legal team and the prosecution here over documents that were requested but were not tur over and the judge judge cydney Stein admonished both of them he said quote there's been too much gamesmanship here and I want it to end now everyone should operate in good faith and I'm not sure I've seen that then jury selection started judge Stein essentially crowded a hundred prospective jurors into courtroom a23 and then he questioned them one at a time to see who could essentially make it through a 7-week trial 9 to5 Monday through Friday now those who remain are going to go through the regular Vere they will be subject to questions from the prosecution and the defense altogether they all get 40 strikes now those who remain could get asked do you have opinions about people who keep cash in their homes have you ever purchased bars of gold or silver and are people from New Jersey more likely to be guilty to commit crimes now let's talk about who was not here two people were not in the courtroom naen Menendez the Senator's wife she's also been charged in this indictment however she's going to be tried separately she is apparently having an uh surgery for an undisclosed medical issue and the prosecution star witness his name is Jose urbe he's one of the three New Jersey businessmen that were originally indicted with Senator Menendez he flipped he essentially pleaded guilty to seven counts and now he's going to testify for the prosecution now we're going to be getting a better idea of the defense and the prosecution strategies during opening arguments at this point this is where we stand with the jury out of a 100 that were brought in 38 were struck as being just not able to keep up with a 7we trial the judge is bringing in 50 more and there'll be more questions asked tomorrow I'm Brenda Flanigan reporting from Manhattan at the federal courthouse for NJ Spotlight news [Music]