At Menendez trial, ex-prosecutor recounts 'gross' meeting with New Jersey senator

The former New Jersey attorney general Gurbir Grewal testified at U.S. Senator Bob Menendez's corruption trial on Thursday that the lawmaker sought to intervene in a local criminal case, including a meeting that Grewal's deputy described as "gross."

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have said Menendez sought to have Grewal, the state's top prosecutor from 2018 through 2021, intervene in cases involving two associates of insurance and trucking businessman Jose Uribe.

In exchange, Uribe allegedly helped Menendez and his wife Nadine Menendez buy a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible with money disguised as a loan.

Uribe pleaded guilty this year to fraud and bribery charges and is expected to testify against Bob Menendez.

Testifying for the prosecution, Grewal said Menendez objected in a January 2019 phone call and September 2019 meeting that the attorney general's insurance fraud unit treated Hispanic defendants in the trucking industry different from others.