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Article snippet: NEWARK — The senator paused in a corridor of the federal courthouse here last month to oblige a beckoning courtroom sketch artist. The artist spun around her canvas and Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey looked briefly at her sketch of the courtroom, the sharp royal blues of his suit and broad charcoals of his outline a familiar form to the former lawyer, but his place in the painting a jarring shift: the defendant’s chair. His smile mixed with a grimace before he disappeared through the double wooden doors to the courtroom. The moment underscored the unusual predicament facing Mr. Menendez, a senior senator: For the first time in 36 years, a sitting United States Senator is facing a federal bribery trial, one that comes as a bitterly divided Congress reconvenes amid the unrelenting turbulence of the Trump administration. Since his indictment more than two years ago, Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, has steadfastly proclaimed his innocence, and last week he reiterated that. “I am going to be exonerated,” he said in a brief interview on Wednesday with reporters following a rally protesting President Trump’s immigration policies. Mr. Menendez is charged with 12 corruption-related counts, including six counts of bribery and three counts of honest services fraud. Aside from the fate of Mr. Menendez, the outcome of the trial could also have implications on how the government defines relationships between donors and politicians. “This is a serious case,” Judge William H. W... Link to the full article to read more