Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) appears set to try to blame his wife, Nadine Menendez, for the federal bribery charges that the couple is facing, according to newly unsealed court documents.
“At trial, as part of his defense, Senator Menendez may elect to testify to communications with his wife that serve to materially decrease any inference of culpability on Senator Menendez’s part,” the motion states. “Senator Menendez will explain, for example, what he and his wife discussed contemporaneously with their dinners with Egyptian officials (which colored his understanding of the purpose of such dinners); the explanations that Nadine provided for why [co-defendants Wael Hanna and Jose Uribe] had provided her certain monetary items; the reasons why he sent his wife a series of questions that other Senators purportedly intended to ask an Egyptian official; and many more topics.”
The 70-year-old senator is planning to show the “absence of any improper intent on Senator Menendez’s part” by “demonstrating the ways” that his wife “withheld information from Sen. Menendez or otherwise led him to believe that nothing unlawful was taking place,” the document continued.
The document added that by “demonstrating the absence of any improper intent on Senator Menendez’s part, they may inculpate Nadine.”
Menendez and his wife were indicted on federal charges in September for allegedly accepting bribes from three businessmen in exchange for actions that he took as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. According to the DOJ, the alleged bribes were intended to protect the businessmen and to benefit Egypt.
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Prosecutors later said in a revised indictment that Menendez also allegedly used his clout to help a friend secure a multi-million dollar investment deal from the Qatari government, in part by taking actions that benefited Qatar.
In a subsequent superseding indictment, Menendez was also charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, public official acting as a foreign agent, bribery, extortion and honest services wire fraud.