Trial of pro-Armenian senator Menendez to last until early July

Jury selection began on Monday in the federal corruption trial of pro-Armenian Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, who is charged with accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold bars in exchange for political favors at home and abroad, Report informs, citing the State Statistical Committee.

By late afternoon, no jurors had been selected for the trial, which is taking place in Manhattan and is likely to last until about the Fourth of July.

Menendez has represented New Jersey in Congress for three decades, but the corruption case was brought by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. The jurors who will be asked to weigh the evidence against him and two New Jersey businessmen, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, will be from Manhattan, the Bronx or several counties north of New York City.

Menendez, the former chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is accused of steering government aid and weapons to Egypt, helping Hana’s company win a lucrative monopoly and meddling in criminal investigations in New Jersey on behalf of his allies.