Former N.J. Attorney General Takes the Stand in Menendez Bribery Trial

New Jersey’s former attorney general, Gurbir S. Grewal, took the stand on Thursday afternoon in Senator Robert Menendez’s bribery trial, becoming the most prominent official to testify against the senator, a fellow Democrat.

Mr. Grewal was expected to offer details about telephone calls from Mr. Menendez and a brief meeting the two had in September 2019 in the senator’s office in Newark.

Being called as a witness in a criminal trial was an unusual role for Mr. Grewal, a former federal prosecutor who now leads the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division. Mr. Menendez turned to look directly at Mr. Grewal as he walked slowly to the stand.

Prosecutors have said that Mr. Menendez contacted Mr. Grewal on behalf of an ally, Jose Uribe, who had sought help from the senator in an effort to quash an insurance fraud case the attorney general’s office was pursuing against two of Mr. Uribe’s associates. Mr. Uribe, who was charged last year in the alleged bribery conspiracy, pleaded guilty in March and is now cooperating with prosecutors.

Mr. Grewal was expected to become the second witness to testify about a direct conversation with Mr. Menendez — exchanges that go to the heart of prosecutors’ claims that the senator used his political clout on behalf of people who rewarded him and his wife, Nadine Menendez, with bribes.

Mr. Uribe admitted in court during his guilty plea that he had provided a Mercedes-Benz convertible to Ms. Menendez in an effort to influence the senator.