World
Prosecutors try to link alleged bribes of Sen. Bob Menendez to appointment of federal prosecutor
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors at the trial of Sen. Bob Menendez used the testimony of his former campaign manager on Tuesday to try to link alleged bribes of the Democrat to the appointment of New Jersey’s top prosecutor three years ago.
Michael Soliman, a former top Menendez political adviser, testified immediately after New Jersey’s U.S. attorney, Philip R. Sellinger, finished two days on the witness stand at the Manhattan federal court trial that is in its sixth week.
Menendez, 70, and two New Jersey businessmen are on trial on charges alleging the senator accepted gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and a luxury car from businessmen from 2018 to 2022 in return for helping them in their business dealings, including by trying to meddle in court cases.
They have pleaded not guilty. A third businessman pleaded guilty and testified against them. Menendez’s wife has also pleaded not guilty in the case, although her trial has been delayed after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Sellinger testified last week that Menendez told him that if he recommended that he be appointed as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, he hoped he’d take a look at a criminal case against Fred Dabies, a prominent New Jersey real estate developer, because he believed he “was being treated unfairly.”
Sellinger said he told Menendez the next day that he would have to notify the Justice Department that he might need to be recused from the Dabies case because he had worked on a lawsuit while in private practice that was adverse to Dabies.
Menendez then recommended somebody else for the job, and Soliman testified Tuesday that he was told by a top Menendez aide in December 2020 that the senator and Sellinger “had a falling out.”
Soliman said that after the appointment of the new candidate fell through after a series of negative news articles about her, Sellinger told him that he wanted the senator to know that he checked with the Justice Department and learned that “the issue” that he thought would require his recusal did not after all.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Richenthal asked Soliman if there was any confusion expressed by Menendez about what “the issue” was when he relayed the conversation to the senator.
“No,” Soliman said.
Soliman, who said he did not know what “the issue” was that Sellinger had referenced, also said Menendez did not ask any questions regarding the message Sellinger passed along.
Sellinger, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, was sworn in as U.S. attorney in December 2021 and has held the post ever since.
Sellinger, testifying last week, recalled his conversation with Soliman differently, claiming that he told Soliman exactly what he told the senator: that he expected he might be recused from the Daibes case because of the civil case he had worked on that was adverse to Daibes.
Sellinger said he called Menendez in spring 2022 to invite him to speak at a public ceremony celebrating Sellinger’s appointment as U.S. attorney.
“He said: ‘I’m going to pass,’ ” Sellinger recalled.
Sellinger said the senator then said: “The only thing worse than not having a relationship with the United States attorney is people thinking you have a relationship with the United States attorney and you don’t.”
Sellinger testified on cross examination last week and Tuesday in ways favorable to the senator, including saying he never believed Menendez had asked him to do anything improper or unethical.
Buoyed by Sellinger’s testimony on cross examination, Menendez left the courthouse Tuesday seeming upbeat, saying just before getting in his car: “Sellinger made it very clear. He was asked to do nothing wrong. And he didn’t.”
Dabies, who is on trial with Menendez, contracted COVID last week, forcing a three-day delay in a trial that is now expected to stretch into July. After Wednesday’s holiday, the trial resumes Thursday.
World
State of the Union: Zelenskyy's attempts to drum up new support
This edition of State of the Union focuses on the crucial visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the U.S., the latest economic forecast by the EBRD and attempts to support the struggling German car industry.
For weeks now, Europe is anxiously looking at its number one economic powerhouse, Germany – to be more precise: at the country’s ailing car manufacturers, some of Germany’s industrial pillars.
A serious car crisis in the Federal Republic, triggered by a quasi-collapse of the electrical vehicle market, could have severe consequences elsewhere in the EU.
Threats of historic job cuts, plant closures at Volkswagen and plunging earnings at Mercedes-Benz and BMW prompted emergency talks at Berlin’s economy ministry this week.
But given strained federal finances and fights with China over tariffs, the government’s toolbox is rather empty.
Nonetheless, economy minister Robert Habeck expressed his willingness to help but excluded quick fixes: “Everyone has said that planning is the most important thing. And that means long-term planning. Not a flash-in-the-pan action, because this only has the effect of pumping up the market again in the short term and then possibly collapsing again.”
Germany is in the uncomfortable position today to be forced to re-orient its entire manufacturing sector that depended on cheap Russian energy.
You can already hear Ukraine’s president Zelenskyy shouting: “I told you so!”
Zelenskyy was at the United Nations this week to drum up support for what he called his “victory plan”.
He also reacted to pleas from the European far-left and far-right to negotiate with Russia:
“We know some in the world want to talk to Putin. We know it. To meet, to talk, to speak. But what could they possibly hear from him? That he’s upset because we are exercising our right to defend our people, or that he wants to keep the war and terror going just so no one thinks he was wrong.”
How the Ukrainian economy keeps suffering from the war was detailed this week by the latest outlook from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The EBRD covers not only Ukraine, but large parts of eastern Europe and central Asia. The bank’s findings are an important bellwether for the global economy.
We spoke to Beata Javorcik, the chief economist of the EBRD.
Euronews: So, your latest Regional Economic Prospects report is called “Along the adjustment path” – that sounds like a friendly way of saying “It’s disappointing”. What do the economies you invest in need to adjust to?
Javorcik: Well, the situation in Europe remains quite challenging. We continue to have very high prices of energy. Particularly the price of natural gas is five times as high as in the US. The demand for exports, particularly from Germany, is muted. Given the difficult situation of the German economy and, finally, the costs of borrowing continue to be high, there is this extra risk premium, this extra interest rate. Countries in the regions had to pay when the war in Ukraine started. And this risk premium continues to be there.
Euronews: On the upside are a decline in inflation and an increase in real wages. What exactly happened?
Javorcik: Well, by historical standards we have seen a very fast disinflation process, though of course the adjustment is not done yet. Inflation remains above the pre-COVID level, but on the positive side we have managed to avoid a hard landing. So, this fight with inflation has come without very big unpleasant effects in terms of unemployment. As the inflation episode started, we saw a big decline in real wages, but then real wages started catching up. That was visible in the last few months in the last year. They are not yet back to the pre-COVID trend, but they have certainly caught up in a significant way.
Euronews: I guess there are still some remaining inflationary pressures – what are they?
Javorcik: Inflation still remains high in some countries, such as Turkey or Egypt, still in high double digits. And depreciation of domestic currencies, which has made imports more expensive, has contributed to further inflation.
Euronews: One country is still in the spotlight: Ukraine. How are they coping with the ongoing war economically?
Javorcik: Well, despite the war early this year, so in the first quarter, Ukrainian economy managed to grow very fast. The bleak Black Sea corridor allowed Ukraine to export grain as well as metals and ores. But then this heavy bombing and destruction of electricity infrastructure happened. And that made the situation very difficult. There are rolling blackouts. There are shortages of electricity. The country is importing electricity from Europe, but it comes at a higher cost. And that’s weighing down on the economy.
World
Meryl Streep to Star in The Corrections Series Adaptation in Works at CBS Studios
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World
Israel targets Hezbollah leader Nasrallah in strike on Beirut headquarters
The Israeli Defense Forces targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Hasrallah in a “precise strike” Friday on the central headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, Lebanon.
IDF spokesperson Rear admiral Daniel Hagari said the headquarters were intentionally built in the heart of the Dahieh in Beirut under residential buildings “as part of Hezbollah’s strategy of using Lebanese people as human shields.”
Video and images show plumes of smoke rising over Beirut following the Israeli strikes. Witnesses say they heard multiple strikes. It is unclear if Nasrallah was struck.
ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH WAR: NETANYAHU ‘DID NOT EVEN RESPOND’ TO US CEASE-FIRE DEAL, PLEDGES TO FIGHT ‘FULL FORCE’
Hezbollah’s al-Manar television reported that four buildings were destroyed and there were many casualties in the multiple strikes, which marked an escalation of Israel’s conflict with the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Security sources in Lebanon said the attack targeted an area where top Hezbollah officials are usually based. It was the heaviest attack in Beirut in almost a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
HOW A US-BACKED UN RESOLUTION FAILED TO STOP HEZBOLLAH TERROR TAKEOVER: ‘BIPARTISAN FAILURE’
“On Oct. 8, Hezbollah started attacking Israel after almost a year of Hezbollah firing rockets, missiles and suicide drones at Israeli civilians,” Hagari said.
“After almost a year of Israel warning the world and telling them that Hezbollah must be stopped, Israel is doing what every sovereign state in the world would do if they had a terror organization that seeks their destruction on their border, taking the necessary action to protect our people so that Israeli families can leave their homes safely and securely.”
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh says the U.S. was not involved in this operation and had no advance warning.
“Minister [Yoav] Gallant spoke with Secretary Austin as the operation was already underway,” Singh said. “This operation has happened within the last few hours. We are still assessing the event.”
The Pentagon also declined to speculate on whether the Hezbollah leader was still alive.
A White House official says that President Biden has been briefed on the operation.
The strikes hit Beirut shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue Israel’s attacks on Iranian-backed fighters in Lebanon in a closely watched United Nations speech, as hopes faded for a cease-fire that could head off an all-out regional war.
Netanyahu will cut short his stay in the U.S. and will depart for Israel Friday, Fox News sources say. This is understood to be a rare move by an Israeli prime minister, as Shabbat is a day of rest for Jews.
WATCH: SMOKE FROM STRIKE RISES OVER BEIRUT
The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has drastically escalated over the last month as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has begun targeting the terrorist network’s hot spots and military storage units, all of which are strategically embedded within civilian villages.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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