Menendez trial an attack on Hispanic Americans, says co-defendant's lawyer
NEWARK — The second day of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez’s federal corruption trial concluded Thursday after an attorney for Menendez’s co-defendant accused prosecutors of attacking Hispanic-Americans, and the judge warned attorneys on both sides not to turn the proceeding into a “tabloid trial.”
Kirk Ogrosky, the lead attorney for Dominican-born Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, described a deep, 25-year friendship between Melgen and Menendez in which the two men often sought to help young Hispanic Americans advance the way they had.
“Sal and Bob were part of a fellowship of Hispanic Americans. entrepreneurs, businessmen, doctors, politicians. You’ll hear this at trial: their idea was to pay it forward, help young Hispanic Americans improve their lives, lift up their community, play a larger role in their community,” Ogrosky said. “This case isn’t only an attack on those two men. It’s an attack on that whole group.”
Ogrosky’s comments were the highlight of a day that later delved into the minutiae of a $1,500 per night Paris hotel room in which Menendez stayed in 2010.
Ogrosky, in his opening statement that was carried over from Wednesday, said Menendez — New Jersey’s first Hispanic senator and one of only two in the U.S. Senate — singled out Melgen as a Hispanic-American success story in a book he wrote in 2009.
NEWARK — The second day of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez’s federal corruption trial concluded Thursday after an attorney for Menendez’s co-defendant accused prosecutors of attacking Hispanic-Americans, and the judge warned attorneys on both sides not to turn the proceeding into a “tabloid trial.”
Kirk Ogrosky, the lead attorney for Dominican-born Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, described a deep, 25-year friendship between Melgen and Menendez in which the two men often sought to help young Hispanic Americans advance the way they had.
“Sal and Bob were part of a fellowship of Hispanic Americans. entrepreneurs, businessmen, doctors, politicians. You’ll hear this at trial: their idea was to pay it forward, help young Hispanic Americans improve their lives, lift up their community, play a larger role in their community,” Ogrosky said. “This case isn’t only an attack on those two men. It’s an attack on that whole group.”
Ogrosky’s comments were the highlight of a day that later delved into the minutiae of a $1,500 per night Paris hotel room in which Menendez stayed in 2010.
Ogrosky, in his opening statement that was carried over from Wednesday, said Menendez — New Jersey’s first Hispanic senator and one of only two in the U.S. Senate — singled out Melgen as a Hispanic-American success story in a book he wrote in 2009.
http://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2017/09/07/menendez-co-defendant-lawyer-corruption-case-is-an-attack-on-hispanic-americans-114345
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