THE MENENDEZ TRIAL: 'Duh, There is a Great Deal of Corruption'
Menendez's departure followed came after that of the day's most significant witness. Unfamiliar with the special press-free lane on his first day at court, William Brownfield was hemmed in by a handful of reporters and television cameras as he made his way directly down the courthouse steps, across the courthouse plaza and to the street.
The recently retired Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement stood by his testimony he did not view as a threat Menendez's vow to hold Senate hearings on Dominican port security if the senator was not satisfied by the bureau's actions.
"I hope I'm not offending anyone in this room, I said the equivalent of, 'Duh, there is a great deal of corruption,'" Brownfield said.
"I did discuss our port security program, our proposed port security program for the Dominican Republic," he testified.
Though Menendez threatened to hold a Senate hearing if there was not a favorable result by July 1, Melgen's contract remained in limbo when Brownfield embarked on a working trip to Miami, Haiti and the Dominican Republic in October.
During the trip, Brownfield recalled three specific conversations on ICCSI: one, with the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, with the U.S. ambassador, and with President Danilo Medina.
"It was a, an issue at the end," Brownfield said of his meeting with the president. "If I had to say how long the conversation on that lasted, I’d say a minute."
