 fence, clearing the way for closing arguments as soon as this afternoon. Menendez, who was chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, has pleaded not guilty to charges of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts, cash, and gold in exchange for favors to foreign business interests in Qatar and Egypt. Fox's Jared Halpern. Hurricane barrels hammering Texas. Been doing it all morning. Fox Weather's Katie Burns in Galveston.