Amid speculation over a potential third party reelection bid campaign launching this summer, Senator Menendez’s corruption and fraud trial is set to kick off Monday.

The case against Mr. Menendez began with an indictment last fall which saw officials charge the senator with conspiring to commit bribery, fraud, and extortion.

The indictment detailed an alleged scheme between the senator, his wife and a New Jersey businessman, Wael Hana, originally from Egypt, which was to enrich the senator in exchange for connecting him to Egyptian officials and advancing the interests of the Egyptian government.

Allegedly, the scheme hinged on an agreement that Mr. Menendez would leverage his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to supply non-public information to Egyptian officials, among other secret aid.

The indictment included eye-popping photos of cash-stuff jackets and gold bars that investigators found at Mr. Menendez’s New Jersey home, as well as a luxury Mercedes convertible allegedly supplied to the senator as part of the scheme. 

Mr. Menendez declined to seek re-election as a Democrat, failing to file to run on the March 25 deadline for the state’s primary. However, the deadline to run as an independent is June 4, meaning his trial might be wrapped up in time for him to launch a bid.

Mr. Menendez has also alluded to a potential comeback tour if he is not convicted, saying earlier this year that “my exoneration will take place this summer.”

Ahead of the trial, attorneys for Mr. Menendez took issue with the more than 38,000 potential exhibits that prosecutors had produced in the case, including extensive photographic documentation of gold bars and cash.

At a hearing in federal court at the Southern District of New York Judge Sidney Stein ruled that the photos of Mr. Menendez’s wealth could be used in the case, though she warned prosecutors not to go overboard in presenting “hundreds of photographs of assets.”

“Mr. Menendez’s desire for the car, the gold, the watches go to his motive — the lifestyle,” Ms. Stein ruled.

Mr. Menendez was also charged with scheming to advance the interests of the Qatari government in a similar scheme involving New Jersey real estate developer Fred Daibes.

In court, attorneys for Mr. Menendez are expected to argue that the senator thought he was acting for the “good of the public” while helping Egypt and Qatar.

It’s still up in the air whether Mr. Menendez will be able to call a psychiatrist to testify that he developed a habit of stashing his wealth, in the form of gold bars and cash, dating back to his father’s suicide. 

Mr. Menendez has cited his family’s history in Cuba, where he says property was confiscated by the government, as a reason why he would store his wealth in gold bars and wads of bills.

Throughout his latest legal troubles Mr. Menendez has been defiant, refusing to resign from his seat in the Senate despite widespread public pressure.

The senator and his wife, who is being tried at a later date, have maintained their innocence since the indictment and both pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them.

This will not be the first time that Mr. Menendez faces corruption charges in court. In 2017, a case also alleging that Mr. Menendez had engaged in conspiracy, fraud and corruption ended in a mistrial.

After it was announced that the jury was hopelessly deadlocked, Mr. Menendez said that “this case started was wrong, the way it was investigated was wrong, the way it was prosecuted was wrong, and the way it was tried was wrong as well.”

“To those who were digging my political grave so that they could jump into my seat, I know who you are, and I won’t forget you,” Mr. Menendez told reporters in 2017.