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Briana: a meticulous pile of records in the Menendez trail connecting Nadine Menendez with the paper trail leading to the senior senator himself.

Just across the street, it's Judgment Day for the Former President.

The jury in the Trump hush money trial begins to determine his fate.

>> If he is elected president, all bets are off.

You have no idea how that is going to go forward.

A little bit of unbroken ground here.

Briana: Also, protecting democracy.

Congresswoman Mikey Cheryl taking on the Supreme Court, demanding ethics reform.

>> I think we need an investigative body to investigate some of the charges and weigh in on them.

Briana: And calls in New Jersey city for a mental health crisis response program nearly a year after Andrew Washington was shot and killed by police and two years after first promised.

>> We have to advocate for persons with mental health challenges.

Briana: "NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

>> From NJ PBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

Briana: Good evening, and thanks for joining us this Wednesday night.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

Prosecutors are methodically building the case against indicted U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez as the trial resumed today, attorneys presented jurors with a catalog of texts, emails, and other phone records, all meant to showcase the relationship between the senior senator, his indicted wife, and the codefendants who allegedly accepted bribes, portraying Nadine Menendez as the gatekeeper all to secure a halal meat export monopoly that benefited their friend and in turn help to the Menendezes get rich.

The allegation that Senator Menendez acted as an unregistered foreign agent to Egypt are arguably the most damning, but prosecutors have a ways to go improving the scheme.

Brenda Flanagan has been in the Manhattan federal court room all day and joins me now.

Wow, a lot to sift through for the jury.

What happened?

Brenda: Well, hey, Briana.

The prosecution had an FBI agent on the stand and he was going through email after text message after voice recording, essentially laying out three main stories for the jury here.

And obviously they are doing it in chronological order, hoping that the jury can connect the events together.

What did they start with?

In 2018, Senator Menendez's wife, still the girlfriend, essentially helps arrange several meetings between Senator Menendez, Egyptian officials, and her friend.

They're supposed to be discussing friendly relationships between the U.S. and Egypt.

But by July, Menendez texts Nadine, and this is what he tells her, "tell Will I'm going to sign off on the sale to Egypt today," and he lists 99 million dollars worth of tank ammunition, tens of thousands of rounds of tank ammunition.

Nadine texts this information to will Hannah.

He text the information to Egyptian officials.

The Egyptian officials texts Will back a big thumbs-up.

Briana: So it is like a game of telephone when it comes to this Egypt-focused allegedly on.

Did they make Nadine the linchpin?

What else did they present?

Brenda: They did make the linchpin.

Narrative number two is will gets a monopoly on U.S. follow me-- U.S. halal meat, sales.

Apparently officials arranged a meeting with Wael Hana behind the back of the USDA Agriculture Department and decided to bestow this monopoly on oil Hana -- on Wael Hana.

This is come as the story unfolds, you get pictures of Nadine, and she complains that Wael Hana is not delivering on any of his promises, and these promises apparently included a car, they included a carpet, they included a job possibly.

And there is an email that this group sends to each other knowing, acknowledging that Nadine is critical to gain access to Senator Menendez because it says, and I'm quoting, "it is important to keep Nadine happy, because if she is not, she will cancel the meetings Wael set up for Menendez" -- Briana: So the prosecution made her out to be critical to trying to relationships together.

Any other bits of evidence presented through this litany of communications?

Brenda: Well, it became obvious that there is a relationship that develops between Nadine and Bob Menendez.

They keep referring to each other with French ende arment, "I love you, love of my life."

This grinding chronology is going to continue tomorrow as the prosecution tries to convince the jury of what happened.

Briana: Kudos on your French, Bren.

We will have you back tomorrow.

Brenda Flanagan for us.

Meanwhile, just across the street in lower Manhattan, another court case has been overshadowing the senior senator, as a jury deliberates in the first-ever trial against a former U.S. president, deciding whether Donald Trump is guilty of 34 felony charges for allegedly falsify business records to hide that he reimbursed his one-time fixer Michael Cohen for paying off adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 elections.

Prosecutors say he took the money in exchange for staying quiet about an affair Daniels said she had with Trump.

Deliberations come after marathon closing arguments and weeks of exclusive testimony describing tabloid deals and claims of conspiracy.

For more on what they sort decision could mean, I'm joined by a former federal prosecutor.

Typically we are talking all things Menendez, not the case today.

This trial has been prosecution-driven.

Did the defense do enough to make their case in what was 10 hours of closing arguments?

>> That is the $20 million question, and anybody who tells you they can predict what the jury is going to do, I'm sure they have a bridge to sell you in Arizona.

It is impossible to predict whether a randomly selected jury from a cross-section of New York citizens will do.

There is also a lot we are not privy to.

We follow media as we can, but they are privy to the evidence submitted, they are privy to the jury instructions.

It is impossible to tell.

Like I always say, if you are a defense attorney, it takes want to hang a case.

We'll see.

Briana: Yeah, and the judge specifically instructed these jurors not to base their decision off of Michael Cohen's testimony alone, a big moment there.

What happens if there is a guilty verdict?

Is jail time a possibility for a former American president?

>> So, again, jail time is a possibility for anyone convicted under the felony version of the statute.

The question whether any defendant, much less a former sitting president and a current Republican candidate for president, is going to get it is entirely another thing.

We are talking about uncharted waters here.

It is a complete unknown.

But thankfully we still have to see if the verdict will return favorably for the the city or otherwise.

Briana: Chris, is there grounds for appeal from Mr. Trump's team based on everything presented?

Chris: I don't think so.

Every time you get the defense attorney make an objection, what they are doing is making a record of trial, so if there is a conviction, it goes on appeal, you have to preserve issues for appeal.

If you don't object, the only way you can have them look at that in appellate court is what called plane error exists.

If you love an objection, you are signaling to the appellate court this is a legal problem and we are reserving any and all rights we have on appeal.

It is a bit of strategy to decide how much or how that'll to object, because it tends to drag out a proceeding and annoy the jury a little bit.

But you have to make it a record as an attorney so they try to walk that line.

Briana: This is one of four cases against Mr. Trump.

Is there anything we should draw from this as we look to the future and beyond the election for what we might expect in the other cases?

Chris: Well, it's really difficult to compare it to the others because the one in Atlanta is a different state jurisdiction, and the other two are federal cases.

I think a lot of us that are following these cases against the former president thought this would be the last case to go forward in New York, but because of other issues in those three other trials, this is the one that has been presented first.

I tell you, it's difficult.

If there is a conviction, he would still have to ultimately face trial in those other trials.

But if he is elected president, all bets are off.

You have no idea how that is going to go forward.

A little bit of unbroken ground here.

Briana: No doubt about that.

Monumental decision awaits.

Thank you so much for your time.

The U.S. Supreme Court is also weighing major cases tied to Donald Trump revolving around the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In a rare move, Justice Samuel Alito issued a letter rejecting calls to step aside from cases involving the Former President, despite a controversy that has dogged him for days about political flags flown over his homes.

That was one topic brought up during an event today posted by Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill and Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin about defending democracy.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports.

>> The Supreme Court -- it is vital to the first Madisonian principal, which is that no one can be adjudged in his own case.

Joanna: Marilyn Congressman Jamie Raskin evincing the namesake of the County visited today, joining Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill in Madison for a conversation about ethics on the Supreme Court.

Rep. Raskin: Why wouldn't the other seven justices issue a writ of mandamus?

Joanna: They have joined a growing chorus of voices calling for U.S. Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and New Jersey native Samuel Alito to recuse themselves from Former President Donald Trump's Supreme Court cases, after reports that Justice Thomas accepted gifts and vacation from a GOP donor without disclosing them, and Justice Alito's New Jersey residence and vacation had a "stop the steal" flag and Christian nationalist flag outside.

Rep. Sherrill: The Supreme Court has not done well at policing itself when we see someone like Justice Thomas receiving money from a large Republican donor.

Joanna: New details emerged disproving Justice Alito's response the flags outside his home, which he had said was in response to an argument with the Nader.

Representative Raskin said the reason it wouldn't matter even if it were true.

Rep. Raskin: it would make no difference.

A judge is bound by the canons of ethics and impartiality and objectivity regardless of what people around him are saying.

Chief Justice Roberts said when he was doing his confirmation hearing that a judge should be like an umpire.

What happens if the umpire is flying the flag of a baseball team in the World Series?

Everybody would understand that umpire is no longer impartial and cannot be trusted to call balls and strikes in an objective and fair way.

That is where we are today.

Joanna: At the event was the former Capitol -- the father of the former Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who was killed.

>> They should not be serving on the Supreme Court.

Joanna: Justice Alito issued a statement to lawmakers in a letter saying he will not recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 presidential election or January 6, 2021, because the incidents with the flags "do not meet the conditions for recusal," putting all the blame on his wife, saying, "my wife is fond of flying flags, my wife was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residence and vacation home."

Congresswoman Sherrill has sponsored the Supreme Court ethics act which would create a code of conduct for all justices including the U.S. Supreme Court, which currently has none.

Rep. Sherrill: I think we need an investigative body to investigate some of the charges and weigh in on them.

It is not enough that in their own minds they feel as if they are being impartial.

They need to exhibit that in every aspect of their life.

Joanna: The bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives but doesn't have much chance of moving forward without the support of the GOP.

We reached out to each of GOP New Jersey representatives in the house, neither responded.

Briana: for more than two years after it was first promised, Jersey City leaders have yet to deliver program advocates say would be critical in crisis situations, establishing a mental health team where experts in the field are paired with police officers when responding to those calls.

The group Jersey City Together is calling on local officials to finalize the plan, telling Melissa Rose Cooper if it were in place a year ago, the program would have saved the lives.

>> we remember Ronnie King in Los Angeles, the beating he endured.

We remember many others.

But George Floyd was a flashpoint that we said we have to mobilize can we have to advocate for persons with mental health challenges.

Melissa: And now for years after George Floyd's death, members of Jersey City Together are renewing calls for Jersey City leaders to create a mental health crisis response program.

>> We already made the public health, public safety committee to work on neighborhood issues, gun violence, and things that were really afflicting our city.

What happened with George Floyd, we really embrace the idea of retraining, working with police to get the proper training, with behavioral health specialists.

So together they could be the response.

Melissa: The need for the program hitting even closer to home after Jersey City police shot and killed Andrew Washington while responding to a mental health crisis last year.

>> We all know and understand that mental health is a real thing.

We need to destigmatize individuals dealing with mental health issues.

We need to be -- we don't need to be throwing them to the wolves.

Melissa: The city Council approved a mental health crisis response program, but last year rejected a $4.2 million deal that would've allowed Jersey City Medical Center to operate it.

>> It was only for five days and eight hours a day, and we know and understand that mental health episodes don't have time -- went Andrew Washington was killed, it was on a Sunday, I believe.

Melissa: Now the city Council is working on a new request for a proposal that would offer mental health services around-the-clock.

But some people believe the process is taking too long.

>> The city Council has taken its time as far as developing the RFP, what that plan would look like.

So while dealing with mental health is a complex issue, should not -- generating this plan should not be all that complex.

The urgency is now, and I would hope that the city Council individual to do something to speed the process up.

>> I don't want to do something just for the sake of saying that we've done something.

Timing is very important.

We know and understand that the nuances these type of programs are very intricate.

We want to make sure that we have the most comprehensive program that's available at our disposal.

That's what we're doing.

While we want to take our time, would you want to do our due diligence making sure we create a good, comprehensive program, but we don't want to move -- we don't want another individual losing their lives because we didn't have said resources lined up.

Melissa: The state of New Jersey has its own response program, now operating in all 21 counties, mental health professionals paired with plainclothes officers when responding to mental health calls.

A spokesperson for the state Attorney General's office says they are looking forward to partnering with Jersey City to discuss how to implement similar mental health services there.

For "NJ Spotlight News," I'm a Melissa Rose Cooper.

Briana: Increase traffic, air pollution, and environmental damage are among the reasons a group of activists were protesting last night, rallying against the proposed widening project at the New Jersey Turnpike in Hudson County.

The group Empower NJ organize the demonstration on the first phase of the project.

Critics said the estimated $10 billion it would cost would be better spent elsewhere while transportation officials argue the current infrastructure cannot handle modern-date traffic.

Ted Goldberg reports.

Ted: As the New Jersey Turnpike Authority seeks a major reconstruction project in North Jersey, opponents in Bayonne argued against it.

Just before the authority hosted an open information session.

>> It's a severe impact to our streets, and endangered community that must suffer.

>> it is going to disproportionately affect low-income communities and people of color the most.

We are being used as sacrifices.

>> the Turnpike Authority is pursuing a $10 billion project that would widen parts of this 8-mile stretch of highway and replace 29 bridges.

Some protested in song.

♪ Ted: While others were a little more direct with their language.

>> This is a travesty of justice that must be stopped now.

Ted: Hoboken Mayor and congressional Mayor said people's homes could be at stake.

Mayor Bhalla: it will result in eminent domain.

They will literally displace households.

These are the things that they have not told you.

Ted: The Turnpike Authority disputes Bhalla's claims and says there will be -- >> Zero residential displacements for the entire program.

We do it largely within our right-of-way as much as we can.

May some small takings along the property line.

No residential displacements.

Ted: Supervising engineer Lisa Navarro did not rule out eminent domain entirely for seizing small portions of people's properties.

>> Typically we do good-faith negotiations, and in my experience we are largely able to reach resolution.

Barricades we have eminent domain.

Ted: The information session did not allow for questions from the general public.

Its goal was to share information.

One of the benefits for the Turnpike Authority was that the project will create 25,000 jobs, something that is interested organize labor and tradespeople.

>> It's determined is opportunity, and businesses locate -- it is a tremendous opportunity, and businesses located in the area, we want to utilize businesses here.

>> It would be putting a lot of men, women, minority tradespeople to work, especially from Bayonne, Jersey City, Newark.

Ted: One of the 29 bridges addressed by the project is the Newark Bay Bridge.

The Turnpike Authority says it is too old to be continually patched up.

>> Sitting in traffic on average.

Ted: Some argue why widen parts of the Turnpike of the Holland tunnel isn't getting wider.

A report by the Turnpike Authority said "the programs enhancements do not address demand for additional trips to lower Manhattan, but rather accommodate the growing neighborhoods, communities, and port facilities in every such as Bayonne, for Jersey, Jersey City, and Hoboken."

While Bayonne Mayor Davis approves of the project, the Council unanimously don't.

>> If they were doing this for Jersey City, they would listen to Jersey City.

Jersey City says invest in mass transit.

Every single elected leader of all different clinical persuasions, if all of us can agree, they're clearly not doing this for us.

Ted: The entire project is scheduled to take 17 years, and a replacement for the Newark Bay Bridge may not be open until 2031.

Another public information session is scheduled for Jersey City this year, where the Turnpike Authority should get an ear full.

In Bayonne, I am Ted Kohlber -- Ted Goldberger, "NJ Spotlight News."

Briana: in our "Spotlight on Business" report, it's been a busy week for the offshore wind sector.

On Thursday the Bureau of Ocean energy management released the final environmental impact statement for Atlantic shore South, a project that calls for up to 200 turbines about nine miles offshore between Atlantic City.

It is on track to be the first offshore wind farm, but the report found Atlantic Shores South could have major impacts on critically endangered North Atlantic white whales and the fishing industry, which may affect the agency's final decision on approving the project, expected in July.

Yesterday the Murphy administration announced it reached $125 million settlement Danish energy giant Orsted, over last fall's scrap wind projects, less than half of what Orsted guaranteed is the state if the development fell through, which it did, but had software could have been a lengthy legal fight.

Turning to Wall Street, stocks dipped into the red following a spike in treasury yields.

Briana: That does it for us tonight, but make sure you tune into "Chat Box with David Cruz" tomorrow night.

He speaks to the Democrats vying for the eighth congressional district denomination.

They will square off on the top issues facing New Jersey in the nation.

6:00 p.m. Thursday on the YouTube channel.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

For the entire "NJ Spotlight News" team, thanks for being with us, have a great evening.

See you tomorrow night.

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