Sen. Menendez & wife request separate trials

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine, both filed Monday to face separate trials in their bribery case in Manhattan Federal Court.

The Menendezes have been accused of accepting bribes from three New Jersey businessmen, two of whom had ties to governments in Egypt and Qatar. They have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In the latest filings, both Menendezes claimed that if they were to testify at trial, they may be forced to testify against each other, in violation of their right to spousal privilege.

Bob Menendez’s lawyers said he would have to choose “between two fundamental rights: his right to testify in his own defense and his right not to testify against his spouse.”

Nadine Menendez’s attorneys similarly argued their client was interested in “exercising her spousal testimonial privilege without sacrificing her ability to testify in her own defense,” according to Reuters. The lawyers argued this would be near impossible if the couple was tried together.

Last week, Sen. Menendez asked to have the case dismissed entirely and if not, moved from New York to New Jersey. Federal prosecutors have until Feb. 5 to respond in court to the various requests. The joint trial is scheduled to begin May 6.

Menendez (D-N.J.) was charged in September with accepting bribes from businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes. The three men and Nadine Menendez were also charged in the same indictment.

The Menendezes’ alleged illegal relationship with the men began in 2018, less than a year after the senator beat separate corruption charges.

In exchange for Bob Menendez’s influence in the Senate, where he was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee from February 2021 until the first indictment in September 2023, the businessmen lavished the couple with various gifts, federal investigators said.

The feds alleged that in 2018, Bob Menendez backed military sales and financing for Egypt in exchange for Hana putting Nadine on his company’s payroll. In other deals, the Menendezes accepted gold bars and home mortgage payments in exchange for favors, according to investigators.

In a January superseding indictment, prosecutors claimed that Daibes was working with the government of Qatar, and that Bob Menendez boosted Qatari interests to help Daibes. In exchange, feds said the Menendezes received gold, watches and Formula 1 racing tickets.