NEW YORK — The sitting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey and a former state attorney general are among the witnesses expected in the corruption trial of Sen. Bob Menendez, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday.

The group of expected witnesses will be part of the evidence federal prosecutors promised in court would tie New Jersey’s senior senator to corrupt acts to benefit New Jersey businesspeople and foreign governments. Other anticipated witnesses are a former Menendez ally who has pleaded guilty to participating in the bribery scheme and a high-level official from the United States Department of Agriculture who was also allegedly pressured by Menendez.

It is Menendez’s second corruption trial within a decade, although the allegations he faces this time are far more grave and have all but ended his political career.

In the opening statement of the trial Wednesday, a federal prosecutor described Menendez at the center of the complex bribery allegations, saying he was a “senator on the take.” Co-defendants in the case are developer Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, a businessperson with ties to the Egyptian government.

Jose Uribe, a New Jersey businessperson who was also initially charged along with Menendez but has since pleaded guilty, is also expected to testify as he seeks a reduced sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Lara Pomerantz said Uribe would provide an “inside look” to the alleged scheme.

“This case is about a public official who put greed first, who put his power up for sale,” said Pomerantz, who presented the opening statements for federal prosecutors in the trial.

Two of the three expected witnesses — while not mentioned by name — would be former New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and the state’s current U.S. Attorney, Philip Sellinger. Prosecutors said that in exchange for bribes, Menendez tried to have the two interfere in investigations, although they did not succumb to the senator’s pressure, Pomerantz said.

Pomerantz promised the jury, which was named earlier in the day, evidence and correspondence that would show “hour by hour” and even “minute by minute” proof of corrupt schemes unfolding. She said Daibes texted Menendez pictures of gold bars, which were later used in bribes. And she said that Nadine Menendez, the senator’s wife who is expected to face a separate trial, was the conduit between the senator and the businesspeople offering bribes.

Nadine Menendez, she said, was the “go-between to deliver messages to and from the people paying bribes” but she allegedly kept Menendez apprised of the schemes. Federal prosecutors said that after Nadine Menendez received a new luxury vehicle in exchange for the senator interfering in a state investigation, she texted him “we are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes.”

Nadine Menendez operated a “bribe collection company” that the New Jersey businesspeople gave money to in exchange for the senator’s influence, Pomerantz said.