Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) now appears willing to sell out his wife to save his own skin. Court records freshly unsealed reveal that Menendez’s defense team is trying to persuade a court that Menendez’s wife, Nadine, withheld information from him that somehow is sufficient to exonerate him from various charges of fraud, bribery, and extortion.
Back in September, he was indicted for being involved in a years-long scheme to provide favors for three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for cash, gold bars, and a nice shiny new Mercedes for his wife.
According to the charges,
Over $480,000 in cash — much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe — was discovered in the home, as well as over $70,000 in Nadine Menendez’s safe deposit box, which was also searched pursuant to a separate search warrant. Some of … the envelopes were found inside jackets bearing Menendez’s name and hanging in his closet.
When one of the three persons named in the indictment offered to turn state’s evidence in the case, additional charges were added, including obstruction of justice, bribery, extortion, and wire fraud.
All along, Menendez has loudly denied all charges, claiming that he was set up for political reasons. But the backup plan — blaming Nadine for withholding information from him that she was neck deep in the case — was developed offsite until a court allowed it to be made public.
According to the new information offered by Menendez’s attorneys,
These explanations, and the marital communications on which they rely, will tend to exonerate Senator Menendez by demonstrating the absence of any improper intent on Senator Menendez’s part.…
[Instead] they may inculcate [incriminate] 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.
This isn’t the first time that Menendez has sold out his friends to save his own hide. His former “close friend and fundraiser Donald Scarinci” was left hanging by Menendez when it was revealed back in 2006 that Scarinci tried to extort favors from a third party on Menendez’s behalf. Menendez “cut ties” with his former friend immediately and denied that Scarinci was acting for him.
Then there’s Menendez’s former “friend” Dr. Salomon Melgen, a prosperous Miami eye doctor, whom Menendez left hanging out to dry back in 2017. Menendez skated on corruption charges, but his “friend” Melgen was convicted and found guilty of 67 counts of Medicare fraud and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Now Menendez is about to do the same with his wife. His own trial begins in May, while hers has been delayed for medical reasons and won’t begin until later this summer.
New Jerseyans are tired of their senior senator’s long and extensive history of corruption and self-serving dating back to 2006 when they first voted him in. Amid calls for him to resign, Menendez has announced that he won’t be running for reelection this November as a Democrat. Instead, he’ll be running as an Independent.
Said Menendez,
Unfortunately, the present accusations I am facing, of which I am innocent and will prove so, will not allow me to have that type of dialogue and debate with political opponents that have already made it the cornerstone of their campaign.
New Jerseyans deserve better than that.
He added, “I am hopeful that my exoneration will take place this summer and allow me to pursue my candidacy as an independent Democrat in the general election.”
Related articles:
Senator Menendez Enters Not-guilty Plea to New Charges
Additional Charges Filed Against New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez
