Senator Bob Menendez in his first words in court since his trial on federal bribery charges started The defendant, who was pilloried in Manhattan eight weeks ago, told the judge Wednesday that he would not speak in his own defense and closed his arraignment after witnesses testified in his favor for just two days.

“I do not intend to take the witness stand at this time,” New Jersey's senior senator told Judge Sidney H. Stein, assuring the lawyer that he had discussed the matter “in detail” with his lawyers.

His co-defendant, Fred Daibes, called no witnesses and concluded his defense on Wednesday – he also chose not to testify. Attorneys for Wael Hana, another co-defendant, began their defense late Wednesday afternoon and expect to call one more witness and then conclude their defense on Monday.

Stein told prosecutors to make their closing arguments Monday afternoon, and jurors are expected to begin deliberating as early as Wednesday. The ongoing corruption trial is the Democratic senator's second in seven years; his first ended in a non-unanimous jury decision in 2017.

According to the Senator's sister and sister-in-law After a shackled jury on Monday, Wednesday was a disappointing end for the senator's defense in a trial that was supposed to end a week ago. Stein and attorneys for all three defendants have expressed increasing concerns about “losing jurors” as the trial is delayed by around-the-clock evidence disputes, late arrivals, Daibes' fight with COVID-19, and other random interruptions, such as jurors getting stuck in an elevator or the jury room being flooded by a sink left running over the weekend.

On Wednesday, Stein reiterated his repeated promises to speed up the proceedings by telling Hana's attorney, Lawrence Lustberg, that he would not wait for a witness Lustberg plans to call to the stand on Monday – and who is currently stuck in Egypt awaiting a visa.

“We're all going to deal with this jury as efficiently as possible. I'm not going to delay things significantly because of this matter,” Stein said. “The rule in my court is: If you don't have a witness, rest.”

On Wednesday, several jurors dozed at times as Menendez's lawyers introduced their final two witnesses in their case.

When questioned by Menendez's attorney Avi Weitzman, forensic accountant David Gannaway presented texts and other documents intended to add context and refute or at least cast doubt on the prosecution's arguments.

Jurors also heard recorded video testimony from attorney Michael Critchley, who represented a trucking company owner in an insurance fraud case filed by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office. Prosecutors said Hana and co-defendant Jose Uribe bribed Menendez to prevent the office from prosecuting E&K Trucking owner Elvis Parra, Uribe's friend, because Uribe concerned The Attorney General's expanded investigation would also reach the insurance company he illegally ran. Uribe pleaded guilty in March and testified against his co-defendants last month as part of a cooperation agreement.

Critchley testified that Menendez called him in March 2019 to complain that Parra's case was an “abuse of law enforcement.” The men agreed that the attorney general's office was being abused by insurance companies to collect private debts.

Under Weitzman's questioning, Critchley said the senator had done nothing “inappropriate or improper” and that he occasionally spoke with Menendez about criminal cases that made headlines. Parra eventually agreed to a deal with a suspended sentence, but Critchley said the offer was made because prosecutors had “a weak case” and not, as prosecutors claim, because Menendez called and met with him. Gurbir Grewal, then Attorney General, in an agreement with Uribe that obliged the Senator to “Kill and stop all investigations.”

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Lara Pomerantz, Critchley acknowledged that the case had not attracted much public attention and that, contrary to the senator's defense team's claims, Menendez had never raised concerns that the office was unfairly targeting Hispanic truckers.

Hana's team began its defense late Wednesday by calling Carolina Silvarredonda, who works for Hana in his Uruguay office, to the witness stand.

Silvarredonda told jurors she was Hana's assistant in September 2019 when the senator hired the senator's wife, Nadine, to set up offices for his halal meat export company, IS EG Halal, which expanded to other countries after gaining a monopoly in Egypt. Prosecutors have said it was a sham job to conceal the $30,000 in bribes Hana paid the couple for the senator's influence in helping him get his Monopoly.

Silvarredonda testified that she repeatedly asked Nadine to send her information about opening an office in New Delhi, India, but the company awarded the contract to someone else when Nadine did not send her the required information for three weeks.

“She didn’t do what was asked of her,” she said.

The statement supports Hana's defense that the money was payment for a job – and that he fired her when she didn't do the job.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Daniel Richenthal, Silvarredonda agreed that she had told Nadine on October 17, 2019, that her services were no longer needed – and that Hana had written Nadine a check for $10,000 three weeks later, even though she had supposedly been fired.

Lustberg wanted to call three IS EG employees to show that the company is now a thriving business exporting halal beef to several countries.

“The government has left the impression that this is a completely fraudulent company that was awarded this contract not based on its merits but on corruption,” Lustberg said.

But Stein refused to comment, saying: “Whether it is thriving today, not thriving or somewhere in between is irrelevant.”

The trial is currently suspended over the holiday weekend and is scheduled to resume on Monday morning.