Opening statements set for bribery trial of Nadine Menendez, wife of ex-Sen.
Bob Menendez
[March 24, 2025]
NEW YORK (AP) — Opening statements are scheduled Monday in the bribery
trial of Nadine Menendez, whose prison-bound husband, former U.S. Sen.
Bob Menendez, complained she was being treated unfairly by Manhattan
federal prosecutors.
Nadine Menendez, 58, was originally scheduled to go to trial last year
along with the 71-year-old New Jersey Democrat, but a breast cancer
diagnosis and surgery led to a delay in her case. She has pleaded not
guilty to charges that she participated in the bribery scheme resulting
in her husband’s conviction.
“My wife, who had breast cancer reconstructive surgery just days ago, is
being forced by the government to go to trial tomorrow,” Bob Menendez
said last week on the social platform X before jury selection took
place.
“Only the arrogance of the SDNY can be so cruel and inhumane,” Menendez
added, referring to the Southern District of New York, where her trial
is taking place. “They should let her fully recover!”
The former senator was sentenced in late January to 11 years in prison
after being convicted of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in
bribes from three New Jersey businessmen. Prosecutors said that was in
return for a variety of favors, including using his influence to help
some of them in their dealings with foreign governments, and he was also
convicted of acting as a foreign agent for Egypt.
Menendez resigned his Senate seat after his conviction. A judge delayed
the start of his prison term until June 6 so he could attend his wife’s
trial.
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Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, left, and his wife,
Nadine Menendez, arrive at the federal courthouse in New York, Sept.
27, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon, File)
Throughout his two-month trial, Nadine Menendez was mentioned
repeatedly for her dealings with the businessmen. One of them
testified he bought her a luxury car after the senator tried to get
New Jersey prosecutors to drop a criminal investigation involving
one of his associates.
In 2022, FBI agents raided the couple’s home in Englewood Cliffs,
New Jersey, and found over $100,000 in gold bars and more than
$480,000 cash stuffed in envelopes, shoeboxes, jackets and boots.
Bob Menendez said at trial that the gold belonged to his wife and
the cash resulted from his habit of hoarding money after his parents
fled Cuba in 1951 with only what they had hidden in a grandfather
clock.
Menendez, who beat another corruption prosecution a decade ago, has
aligned himself with Donald Trump’s criticisms of the judicial
system, particularly in New York City, and tagged the president in
his March 17 complaint on X.
“This process is political, and it’s corrupted to the core,” he told
reporters after his sentencing. “I hope President Trump cleans up
the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.”
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