Senator mendez's Federal corruption trial is on an unexpected pause today after the judge announced Fred Davies who's one of the codefendants in the case tested positive for covid-19 the illness comes just as the prosecution had turned its focus to key Witnesses including one of the co-conspirators who pleaded guilty and some of the state's top law enforcement leaders sharing salacious and at times amusing details into the alleged bribes that took place between Menendez his wife naen and three New Jersey businessmen the temporary Hiatus means senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan could step away from the federal courtroom in Manhattan and join me here in the studio Brenda it's really nice to have you here so that we can recap where we're at so much has been presented what would you say is sticking with the jury at this point yeah five weeks of testimony so far Bri and I think if you look back over the past like five days what strikes me as as something the jury is not going to be able to forget is that they had the two top cops uh from from New Jersey in their courtroom uh you're talking about a former Attorney General the state's top cop and then the sitting us attorney uh who is the federal top law enforcement officer in New Jersey and what's remarkable is that both of them told jurors that they were asked by Senator Menendez to give special consideration to individual criminal cases um that and that that carries a lot of weight when you you get that kind of testimony uh from people with this kind of stature uh that these cases involved uh people who of evidence shows gave gold bars cash a mercedesbenz uh we're talking connecting the dots but it's being it's being done by people who are again top of the food chain when we're talking law stunning moments really thinking about those men walking into the courtroom with Senator Menendez sitting there uh what did the Senator's defense team have to say when they made those allegations that they were in fact asked menendez's defense uh has essentially said look he is providing constituent services that this is something that's not out of the ordinary it's it's it's what a US senator does for people um and and that there should be no inference that it's a bribe however business as usual is not the way it was described especially for example when the former New Jersey attorney general gber greywall went to a meeting in uh menendez's office in New York with an attorney an assistant attorney uh us attorney and he was a witness to what happened when there was an apparent ask again from Senator to focus on a particular case involving the star witness for the prosecution and he made the ask grey wall said we can't do that it's not how this office operates and he shut it down and as the two of them were walking out that's when the assistant uh attorney general turned to greywall and said whoa that was gross and the prosecution made him repeat it a couple of times obviously that's the kind of thing that sticks with a jury similarly when you're talking about the case involving uh us attorney Philip S ER now he indicated that it was very important to Menendez that he take a a close look at a case involving Fred Davies a developer who is a codefendant in this trial and that yeah his support to the nomination to us attorney hinged on what he could do let me shift because you mentioned Salinger and there's a ju of position there Brenda with who was really the star witness Jose yube he's been smeared as someone who maybe is Ling on the stand he's being accused of that is not having a a good recollection of the events as opposed to two law enforcement leaders whose maybe testimony has more weight what did Jose yube have to say I think what stuck with the jury most was the his account of the night that he visited Menendez at the home that he shares with his his wife naen at that point girlfriend as he walked up the driveway there was the mercedesbenz that Ure Bay was financing for naen walked sat down in the back patio with the senator said I need your help with this case Senator what can you do and at that point the senator reached over gets a little bell and he Rings it and that summons apparently summons his wife naen to the backyard with a piece of paper and everyone in the courtroom thought he rang a bell to summon his wife that was something that I think we all thought was odd that the jury's going to remember subsequently Menendez said write the names of the people involved in this Cas piece of paper put it in his pocket right and then at that point you know said I will look into this for you which if you connect the dots becomes a quid pro quo which is what they're looking to do uh trial is expected to resume on Monday you will be back in court Brenda Flanagan thank you for that thank you