Day twenty-seven

Bob Menendez's 80-year-old sister testified that Cuban keeps cash at home, and his accountant told jurors that Menendez withdrew $400 in cash from the bank about twice a month between 2008 and 2022. But that doesn't add up to the $552,000 – the amount of cash FBI agents seized from the senator's Englewood Cliffs home. And defense attorneys say they haven't ruled out the possibility of Menendez testifying in his own defense.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Menendez's attorney, Adam Fee, is trying to convince jurors that Menendez and his wife, Nadine, could not have colluded to accept bribes in 2018 because the two had separated. (For those who want to do the math, Menendez was seeking re-election in the fall of 2018 after fending off corruption charges a year earlier.)

DAYS SINCE ACCUSATION: 282

DAYS SINCE THE END OF THE LAST CRIMINAL TRIAL AGAINST MENENDEZ: 2,417

MISSED VOTES: 34
The Senate has not voted since June 20, and the session is not expected to resume until next week.

And if you are following: It has been 43 years and 59 days since a U.S. Senator from New Jersey was last convicted of accepting bribes.

MUST READ: Senator Menendez's lawyers begin their defense on Monday. Here are the key elements of the prosecution's argument by Dana DiFilippo of the New Jersey Monitor.

HOW WOULD DAD FEEL IF CASH WAS STUFFED IN A BOOT?
— “Don’t trust the banks.” Senator Menendez’s sister defends her brother by Chris Keating of News 12: “The first witness called in the senator's defense was his sister, 80-year-old Caridad Gonzalez. Gonzalez explained to jurors why it should be no surprise that her brother had hidden $400,000 in cash… She said given the family's Cuban heritage, it should be no surprise that her “little brother,” as she described him, had a large amount of cash in his and his wife, Nadine Menendez's, Englewood Cliff home. “That was normal, he's Cuban,” Gonzalez explained. “Any Cuban who came to the United States in the '50s, '60s and '70s, you would find cash in the house. In Cuba, they take everything away from you.” She explained that she was born in Cuba and that the family left Havana for the United States because her father's business was under threat of takeover. Gonzalez said her mother and father always hid cash and told their children to do the same. “Daddy always said, 'Don't trust the banks, always have money at home,'” she said. “My mother always withdrew money, [of her check] and she put it in the frames of the closet.'”

WILL HE DO IT OR WILL HE NOT DO IT?
— ““This is a Cuban thing”: Menendez's sister says her parents also hid cash by Tracey Tully and Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: “Mr. Menendez's lawyers have not indicated whether he will testify in his own defense; a lawyer, Adam Fee, told the judge on Monday that that was 'still under review' … Russell Richardson, a forensic accountant who analyzed Mr. Menendez's cash withdrawals, testified that the senator withdrew roughly $400 about twice a month between 2008 and 2022. During that time, those withdrawals totaled more than $150,000, Mr. Richardson said. Much of the cash seized by the FBI was found in $10,000 bundles. Under cross-examination by prosecutor Catherine Ghosh, Mr. Richardson said that no $10,000 withdrawals were included in the records he analyzed.”

THE NANNY DID IT
— Defense attorneys give standard explanations for Senator Menendez’s hoarded wealth by Dana DiFilippo of the New Jersey Monitor: “Defense attorneys also called Nadine Menendez's younger sister, Katia Tabourian, to the stand Monday for a similar reason — to prove that the 13 gold bars, gold coins and jewelry investigators found in the couple's home had more to do with family than bribery. Tabourian said their parents left the sisters gold as an inheritance, and spoke of photographic evidence of jewelry the FBI seized, saying they were family heirlooms or gifts. She also insisted that the couple's locked bedroom closet belonged to Nadine alone and that she kept it locked after a nanny stole from her years ago. Custody of the closet is crucial because Menendez's defense team has said he was unaware of cash, gold and other valuables his wife kept there because it was her closet and he did not have access to it.”

MENENDEZ HAS GOOD MANNERS
— ““It’s a Cuban thing”: Senator Robert Menendez’s sister says it’s “normal” to keep cash at home by Erik Uebelacker of Courthouse News Service: “Nadine (Menendez)' sister, Katia Tabourian, also appeared in court Monday to testify for the defense. Taking the stand after Gonzalez, Tabourian praised Menendez's old-fashioned manners and her treatment of her sister, so much so that it seemed to slightly annoy U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein. 'He's incredible. Every time she stood up at dinner or lunch, he stood up,' Tabourian said. 'Very respectful, very kind.' 'OK, thank you,' Stein interrupted. But Stein refused to let defense attorneys delve deeper into the issue, fearing the details could sway prosecutors and turn his courtroom into a 'soap opera.' The lawyers carefully skirted the issue on Monday, asking Tabourian only general questions about Nadine's past relationship, which resurfaced during her marriage to Menendez. “That caused a lot of chaos in her relationship with the senator,” Tabourian said. “I know he was, I think, fed up with the previous relationship constantly comes in between [them].'”

WHAT HAPPENED TO GENTLE JOHNNY RAMSENSKY?
— Senator Bob Menendez's sister says he hoarded cash for decades: “It was normal. He's Cuban.” by Hannah Fierick and Ben Kochman of the New York Post: “Tabourian added that Nadine's habit of keeping a safe in her closet was typical of people of Lebanese descent, including her mother. 'Everyone had a safe,' she testified.

LIKE SAND THROUGH AN HOURGLASS
— It's 'a bad soap opera.' Judge in Menendez corruption trial says he's tired of the drama from SP Sullivan of the Star-Ledger: “The U.S. District Judge presiding over the second corruption trial of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez says he's had enough of the drama. 'Not only are you making a soap opera out of this, you're making a bad soap opera out of it.' Judge Sidney Stein rebuked defense and prosecution lawyers as the case entered its eighth week Monday… The trial was nearly adjourned Monday as defense and prosecution argued over which private details of the Menendez couple's relationship the jury would hear. 'This is an abuse of the court system,' Stein said before the jury entered the courtroom, complaining of a 'tsunami of submissions' received over the weekend as part of the evidence dispute… On Monday morning, Stein said he would need 'at least' a day without the jury to sift through the legal arguments. “I'm tempted to tell the jury it's the parties' fault,” he said, adding, “I won't do that.”

* Defense witnesses in the bribery trial of Senator Bob Menendez begin their testimony

* Senator Bob Menendez's defense begins with his sister's testimony about the family tradition of keeping cash

* FBI witness counts cash and gold bars in Bob Menendez's house
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