NEW YORK — In May 2018, a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer asked a State Department official how many Americans were “posted” in the American embassy in Egypt, but with a cryptic condition: “Don’t ask why I’m asking.”

The official, Tiernen Miller, emailed the staffer back saying that they would have to ask for the information — and that “someone is going to ask why.”

“Menendez is asking,” the committee staffer replied, referring to New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez — then the top Democrat on the powerful Senate panel.

The email exchange was just one slice of hundreds of personal emails, text messages, voicemails, photos and other correspondence selected by prosecutors and shown jurors the last two days in Menendez’s bribery trial. More correspondence is expected to be presented Thursday as prosecutors make the case that the senator took bribes to benefit the interests of New Jersey businesspeople and the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

The steady stream of messages shows a minute-by-minute account of how one of the country’s most powerful politicians communicated with his then-girlfriend and allies. An FBI agent has read aloud a spreadsheet of correspondence for hours in court since Tuesday. The records have included accounts of halal meat certifications, mortgage payments to Menendez’s then-girlfriend and dinner meetings with Egyptian officials.

But while prosecutors are making the case piece by piece that the senator took bribes, prosecutor have so far not shown a smoking gun to jurors tying the senator to a quid pro quo.

They have, however, shown a daisy chain of correspondence between Menendez and Egyptian officials that is one component of their case against him.

The senator texted his then-girlfriend, Nadine Arslanian, who is now his wife, information on how many Americans and Egyptians worked at the embassy the morning after the Senate staffer requested it. She later texted that information to Wael “Will” Hana, a New Jersey businessperson with ties to the Egyptian government and a co-defendant accused of offering bribes to Menendez. Hana then sent it to Ahmed Essam, an employee for the Egyptian government.

In another instance, Hana said to an Egyptian military official that “Bob wants your number” — which Arslanisan sent to Menendez within minutes.

The records also showed Arslanian being heavy-handed in Egyptian-American affairs. In one message to an acquaintance in January 2019, she mentioned being “in meeting with head of foreign intelligence for Egypt.” And when the Egyptian Defense office sent Hana an invitation to the October 2018 Egyptian Armed Forces Day celebration at the Egyptian embassy in Washington D.C., he sent it to Arslanian — who then sent it to Menendez.

“In your speech, could you please say: Egypt now in the right direction with the new government now. With the International Monetary Fund. And all the new developments,” she wrote Menendez in a text shortly before the event. She added: “Will said please just speak about the IMF that’s important.”

She also appeared to act as a gatekeeper to the senator. A lawyer who worked for Hana’s halal meat certification company wrote in one text message that “it’s really important that we make sure Nadine stays happy because if she’s not she’s going to cancel the meetings that Wael has set up with Senator Menendez.”

Prosecutors allege that Hana provided bribes to Arslanian. In one instance, they allege, Hana hired her newly created consulting firm to collect bribes. And while Hana’s attorneys have said that Arslanisan and Hana were like brother and sister, the records shown to jurors described a more contentious relationship between the two.

“Can you believe Will said he does not need me to make appointments with you, to go see you at your office and have dinner with you. The man has gone crazy after everything I’ve done for him.!!!!!” She texted Menendez in March 2019 text message, without saying what she did for Hana.

“He is crazy,” Menendez responded. Hana, who sits behind Menendez in the trial, laughed at the senator’s years-old remarks about him.

The messages also showed a more private part of life between the senator and his then-girlfriend. The two referred to each other as “mon amour” — “my love” in French — with their texts sprinkled with heart and kissing emojis. Menendez and Arslanian also tracked each other’s locations using the “Find my Friends” feature on their iPhones.

The senator’s legal team has suggested in court filings and opening statements that they may lay blame for the alleged bribery on Arslanian, who was initially charged in the indictment but is facing a separate trial as she faces breast cancer.

After jurors left the trial on Wednesday, Avi Weitzman, an attorney for Menenedez, told the judge that the correspondence “invites jurors to speculate and that prosecutor were “cherry-picking” what they were showing.