A courtroom in New Jersey will briefly turn into a rare scene of bipartisan unity Thursday as Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Cory Booker are expected to come to the defense of Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, both taking the witness stand to defend their colleague facing federal bribery charges, sources with knowledge of the testimony tell CNN.
Graham’s office confirmed the testimony in a statement Thursday morning as the senator from South Carolina was seen walking in the federal courthouse.
“Graham is testifying as a character witness for the defense and traveled to the trial at his own personal expense,” read the statement. “He will testify about his service with Sen. Menendez in the Senate. Graham’s testimony is unrelated to the underlying charges.”
With tears in eyes, a visibly moved Menendez said he was “honored” Graham came to testify Thursday.
Prosecutors have accused Menendez of accepting free rides on private jets from Dr. Salomon Melgen, a wealthy ophthalmologist from Florida, and then failing to report the gifts on his Senate disclosure forms as part of an effort to conceal their bribery scheme for years.
Graham and Booker are specifically expected to vouch for the New Jersey Democrat’s character and integrity.
All week, jurors have heard from a cast of characters specifically attesting to Menendez’s honesty — including a bishop, a refugee from Cyprus and an autism rights advocate.
“I found him to be forthright and honest — a person of integrity,” said Bishop Reginald Jackson, who told jurors he’d known Menendez for over 20 years. “He always did what he said he was going to do.”
Thursday’s testimony is particularly notable given that most senators — especially on the Democratic side of the aisle — have been mum on Menendez’s case throughout the trial.
Menendez and Melgen deny the bribery allegations, and several witnesses have described the men as longtime close friends — including Robert Kelly, the senator’s scheduler who told jurors the free plane rides weren’t listed on the Senate disclosure forms because he believed there was “friendship exemption.”
Kelly described his scramble to piece together his boss’ travel history after a 2012 “salacious, false press article” raised questions about the relationship between Menendez and Melgen, and said his work was being supervised by Perkins Coie attorney Marc Elias.
Elias has found himself at the center of a different political firestorm this week with revelations that he retained an intelligence firm to conduct opposition research on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump as part of his law firm’s representation of the Hillary Clinton campaign.
It remains unclear whether Menendez will ultimately take the witness stand in his own defense as the eighth week of trial wraps up Thursday.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified the country of origin for a refugee who testified on Menendez’s behalf. The refugee was from Cyprus.
