Evening Roundup: Why a Walkway at Columbia Is Drawing Scrutiny, Former Sen. Menendez Seeks a Pardon, and How a New Crop of Lawyers Is Using the Subway to Get...

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Sean Carlson: Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Sean Carlson. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch says reopening a pathway that cuts across Columbia University's campus would not pose a security threat. Columbia closed the pathway at 116th Street, saying they were concerned about outsiders getting on campus during Israel-Hamas war protests. Residents have since sued to reopen the popular cut-through. During a hearing on the police budget, City Council Member Shaun Abreu asked Tisch if the gates should stay shut.

Council Member Shaun Abreu: Is it the NYPD's position that the gates must remain closed? If so, what are the threats?

Commissioner Jessica Tisch: It is not.

Council Member Shaun Abreu: It is not?

Commissioner Jessica Tisch: That is not my position.

Council Member Shaun Abreu: All right.

Commissioner Jessica Tisch: That is not the department's position.

Sean Carlson: A spokesperson for Columbia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison, but he's hoping to get a pardon from President Trump. We'll discuss the likelihood of that happening after the break.

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Sean Carlson: Former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is scheduled to report to federal prison this June. That is unless he can persuade President Trump to grant him a pardon. That might have seemed like a long shot just a month ago when a Manhattan federal judge sentenced him to 11 years in prison, but now the Department of Justice wants prosecutors to drop its charges against Mayor Eric Adams, and that makes a Menendez pardon much more plausible. WNYC's Nancy Solomon recently produced a segment about Menendez for the New Yorker Radio Hour. My colleague Michael Hill spoke with Nancy about her reporting.

Michael Hill: Nancy, so the headline version of this story is Bob Menendez, the senior senator from New Jersey, was convicted of taking bribes of more than $500,000 in cash and gold bars. He helped Egypt attain military aid. He's been convicted and sentenced. You wanted to tell a different kind of story about Menendez. Tell us about this.

Nancy Solomon: Right. Because all the coverage about the Menendez case was almost cartoonish, and I guess for good reason. I mean, there was the envelopes of cash stuffed in his boots and jacket pockets. There was the gold bars, the defense strategy of throwing his wife under the bus. I was interested in trying to understand how someone who's so smart and who reached the top tier of political power in this country would do something so stupid, really, I mean, to leave all that money in the house. I was interested in trying to understand Menendez.

Michael Hill: What did you find out?

Nancy Solomon: Well, there's an interesting moment in his career when he escapes conviction in his first bribery trial. Those charges involved gifts and trips from a Florida eye doctor. The case ended in a hung jury, so no verdict. People who worked with Menendez told me he felt unfairly accused and that he never got over it. I brought a short segment from the New Yorker Radio Hour feature. It starts with what Menendez had to say after he walked out of the court after that first trial.

Bob Menendez: 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.

Nancy Solomon: The trial was also a pretty pivotal time in the senator's personal life. He and his fiancée broke up right before the trial began. Soon after the hung jury, he fell for someone new.

Nadine Arslanian: Hi, mon amour de la vie.

Nancy Solomon: He had met Nadine Arslanian at his usual breakfast spot, the IHOP in Union City.

Nadine Arslanian: I just wanted to hear your voice.

Nancy Solomon: Voicemails from Nadine were entered as evidence in the second trial.

Nadine Arslanian: I can't wait for you to hold my hand and go to sleep.

Michael Hill: You've got voicemails from Nadine to Bob Menendez?

Nancy Solomon: Yes. There were hundreds of texts entered into evidence. A lot of those got reported on, but the voicemails really didn't get much attention during the trial out in the general public. What you see and what others told me as well in my reporting is that Bob Menendez falls hard and fast for Nadine. He's not a wealthy man. He basically lives on his Senate salary, unlike most senators. Nadine had serious money problems. Let me play another voicemail. This one happens only weeks after they began dating, and Nadine is already trying to set up meetings with Egyptian officials.

Nadine Arslanian: Hi, it's me calling my very handsome senator. I have a favor to ask you. Hopefully, you could do it, but just got off with the general. Since he has not met you before, he needs to have some kind of clearance from Egypt as to why he's meeting a US senator out of the embassy.

Nancy Solomon: That voicemail was a key part of the government's case against Menendez. There was lots of testimony and text showing meetings and dinners with Egyptian officials that did not include his staff or notifying anyone at the State Department.

Michael Hill: Now Menendez appears to be asking President Trump for a pardon. What are his chances of avoiding prison?

Nancy Solomon: Michael, I think they're pretty good. Trump is against prosecutions for corruption and white-collar crime. In his first month, he's already helped two other Democrats. Mayor Adams, of course, everyone in New York knows that story. Then he also pardoned former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. He's the guy who tried to sell a Senate seat to the highest bidder. If there is no pardon, the Menendez defense team plans to appeal the case. The John Roberts Supreme Court has been making it much more difficult to prosecute corruption. I think Menendez has a chance of succeeding there. Nadine hasn't been tried yet, so all these charges are merely allegations until she gets her day in court.

Sean Carlson: That's WNYC's Nancy Solomon talking with my colleague Michael Hill. It's been five years since New York City's most famous personal injury attorneys broke up. Cellino & Barnes dissolved their company in 2020. Now a crop of new lawyers are vying for attention on the subway. WNYC's Hannah Frishberg has more on the battle to be the next Cellino & Barnes.

Hannah Frishberg: Ask Ross Cellino why his law firm became so well known that it was spoofed on SNL and inspired an off-Broadway play, and he'll say it all comes down to good timing.

Ross Cellino: When Cellino & Barnes started, there really wasn't any other law firm that was using that medium for marketing efforts. We became known because, frankly, we're the first in the market to use billboarding and radio and TV.

Hannah Frishberg: When Cellino & Barnes started in the 1990s, lawyers had only been allowed to advertise in the US for less than 20 years. Mike Breen co-wrote a play about the lawyers. He says they were ahead of their time.

Mike Breen: I don't know if Cellino & Barnes did anything that remarkable, aside from forcing you to see them and hear the jingle constantly. Then that kind of became the meme.

Hannah Frishberg: Other firms have tried to grab New Yorkers' attention the same way, but the times have changed and it's harder now. Take it from Larry Chiagouris, a professor of marketing at Pace University.

Larry Chiagouris: Society has changed. We're highly fragmented in terms of what we do, when we do it, and what we watch, and what we listen to, and when do we watch it, and when do we listen to it. That's really changed how any entity gets its message across, including a law firm.

Hannah Frishberg: For now, Cellino & Barnes may no longer exist, but they still remain New York's best-known injury attorneys.

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Sean Carlson: That's WNYC's Hannah Frishberg. Before we go, some bad news for Yankees fans. Pitching ace Gerrit Cole will have season-ending surgery on his right elbow Tuesday, dealing the Bronx Bombers another big injury blow weeks before they open the season. Cole experienced discomfort following his second outing of spring training late last week. The Yankees will also open the season without Rookie of the Year pitcher Luis Gil and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton. Cole signed a nine-year contract with the Yankees prior to the 2020 season and won the American League Cy Young Award in 2023. Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. I'm Sean Carlson. We'll be back tomorrow.

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