Mr Kujimetros told the court: “The amount of banknotes we came across was so large that you can see in some of the photos that it would be impossible to count them by hand.”
The FBI also seized 11 mini gold bars weighing up to 1 ounce, and two 1 kilogram gold bars. They were passed to the jury.
Prosecutors said in their opening statements that Mr. Menendez, a senator since 2006, “betrayed the people he was supposed to serve by paying bribes.”
They claim the cash and gold bars found in his home were given to him by Egyptian officials for political gain in Washington.
Prosecutor Lara Pomerantz also accused Mr Menendez of receiving a Mercedes-Benz in exchange for intervening in a criminal case involving Egyptian-American businessman Wael Hana , and Val Hana is a co-defendant in the case.
Mrs. Menendez is accused of being the middleman for these bribes.
Mr. Menendez’s lawyer, Avi Weitzman, insisted that his client did not accept bribes or break any laws. He added that some of the gold bars belonged to Mrs. Menendez.
In his opening statement Wednesday, Weitzman sought to place blame on the senator’s wife, saying she “kept him in the dark” on financial matters and that the couple had separate bank accounts.
Lawyers for Mr. Harner, the other co-defendant in the case, and Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer accused of providing cash and gold bullion to Mr. Menendez, told the court that their clients were Longtime close friend of Mrs. Menendez.
“Don’t let them say every gift is a bribe,” said Lawrence Lusterberg, Mr. Harner’s lawyer.
Mr. Menendez has served as the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for more than five years, giving him influence over U.S. foreign policy. He was removed as chairman after being charged.
He was charged with 16 felonies, including bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent, and faces prison time if convicted.
Mrs. Menendez is due to stand trial in July on bribery and corruption charges.
Menendez went on trial in 2017 for illegally accepting favors from a Florida doctor, but it ended in a mistrial.
