Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) may argue that his wife “withheld information” and led him to believe nothing illegal was occurring when the couple allegedly accepted cash and gold bars in exchange for political favors, court documents in the senator’s federal corruption case show.
The senator’s legal team laid out the New Jersey Democrat’s possible defense strategy in a motion filed in January, but only unsealed Tuesday following a request by more than a dozen media organizations, including The Post.
In the motion, Menendez asks the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to sever his case from his co-defendants, including his wife, Nadine, because if he takes the stand he may testify about “marital communications” that could implicate her.
“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 document continues.
Menendez’s lawyers argue that the senator’s explanations “and the marital communications” will “exonerate” the three-term senator “by demonstrating the absence of any improper intent on Senator Menendez’s part.”
“They may inculpate Nadine by demonstrating the ways in which she withheld information from Senator Menendez or otherwise led him to believe that nothing unlawful was taking place,” the motion adds.
The senator’s defense team further argues that in order to prevent Nadine from asserting that her communications with her husband were privileged, which would quash the defense strategy, the couple must be tried separately.
Last week, US District Judge Sidney Stein ruled that Menendez and his wife will be tried separately on bribery charges.
Both Bob and Nadine Menendez are facing 18 criminal counts in the sprawling bribery case and have pleaded not guilty.
They stand accused of accepting bribes that included more than $150,000 in gold bars, $566,000 in cash payments, a Mercedes-Benz convertible and other lavish gifts to assist businessmen Hana, Uribe, and Fred Daibes.
The Justice Department also alleges that the Menendezes were acting as foreign agents on behalf of the Egyptian and Qatari governments.
The senator is scheduled to stand trial on May 6. His wife’s trial is slated to begin July 8.
