Senator Bob Menendez may seek an acquittal in his bribery trial in May by blaming his wife Nadine and saying she kept him in the dark about anything that could be illegal about her dealings with New Jersey businessmen.
Menendez, 70, and his wife Nadine, 57, have also been charged with obstruction of justice as part of the federal bribery investigation.
The New Jersey senator and his wife are accused of receiving cash, gold bars and luxury cars as part of a bribery plot to aid the Egyptian government and businessmen facing their own criminal investigations.
The revelations about the man nicknamed “Gold Bar Bob” came from court papers unsealed on Tuesday.
Several lines in a January lawsuit by attorneys for the Democrat were unsealed in Manhattan federal court after some news organizations insisted disclosure was required.
Senator Bob Menendez could seek relief in his May bribery trial by blaming his wife Nadine (pictured right), saying she kept him in the dark about anything that could be illegal about her dealings with New Jersey businessmen.
The revelations about the strategy for the man nicknamed “Gold Bars Bob” came from court documents released Tuesday.
Bob Menendez’s attorneys had redacted the documents, claiming the verdicts revealed a trial strategy that could sway the jury.
According to the passages released, Menendez plans to testify about what he believes was exculpatory communications with Nadine if he decides to take the witness stand in his defense.
“While these statements, and the marital communications on which they rely, will tend to exonerate Senator Menendez by demonstrating no improper intent on Senator Menendez’s part, they may incriminate Nadine by demonstrating what ways she withheld information from senator. Menendez or otherwise led him to believe that nothing illegal was happening,” the attorneys wrote.
While seeking to break up the trials against the senator and his wife, the attorneys said they planned to argue at trial that Senator Menendez did not have the knowledge necessary to commit a crime and that he did not agreed with the conspiracies laid out in the indictment against him. .
With such a trial strategy, the lawyers said they would essentially have to argue that crimes involved the actions of others, including his wife, and not the senator. However, they added that they were not aware of any unlawful behavior.
Although the request to break up the trials was initially denied, Judge Sidney H. Stein has since ruled that they can take place separately after it was revealed that Nadine Menendez will require surgery in the next six weeks. Her trial has now been postponed until at least July.
The Menendezes and two businessmen have pleaded not guilty to charges that they participated in a bribery scheme, which prosecutors say cash and gold bars were given to the couple in exchange for the senator’s granting of political favors.
Menendez has also refused to resign his Senate seat, although he did not participate in this year’s Democratic primary to retain the seat. He remains open to running as an independent candidate once the process concludes.
Senator Robert and Nadine Menendez’s engagement at the Taj Mahal, India
FBI agents seized gold bars, $500,000 cash and the Mercedes during a raid on his home as the investigation began
Images of the gold bars seized from Menendez’s home during the investigation
It was revealed last week that the couple will be tried separately on charges that they participated in the scheme, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
The New Jersey Democrat’s trial remains scheduled for May 6 in Manhattan federal court, while the trial of Nadine Menendez was provisionally postponed until July 8.
Bob Menendez was chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee until he resigned from his post in September over the allegations.
Prosecutors allege that in exchange for the bribes, Menendez helped one of the businessmen secure a lucrative meat certification deal with Egypt.
Menendez helped another employee get a deal with a Qatari investment fund, an indictment alleges.
A third businessman, Jose Uribe, has done so pleaded guilty on bribery charges and agreed to testify against the others at trial.
Uribe said he conspired with Nadine Menendez and others to give her a Mercedes-Benz in exchange for access to her husband’s power and influence.
The senator’s lawyers had argued that the arrest warrants were “replete with material misrepresentations and omissions that misled the authorizing magistrate.”