Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and his wife on Monday asked a judge to allow them to face separate trials in the bribery case against them.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were charged in September with allegedly accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in exchange for the use of the senator’s influence to enrich three New Jersey businessmen and benefit the Egyptian government, according to an indictment filed in Manhattan federal court. Menendez, his wife and the businessmen have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The senator and his wife on Monday filed separate motions to sever their trials from each other.
Lawyers for Menendez said in his motion to sever that he “intends to present a defense arguing (in part) that he lacked the requisite knowledge of much of the conduct and statements of his wife, Nadine.”
“By this defense, Senator Menendez’s legal team may have to argue, in effect, that any unlawful conduct — and we are aware of none —involved the actions of others (including Nadine), not the Senator,” his lawyers wrote.
They argued that the Democratic senator will face a “Catch-22” scenario if a joint trial proceeds, saying it would “force Senator Menendez to make an impossible and prejudicial choice between testifying on his own behalf and exercising his spousal privilege to avoid being converted through cross-examination into a witness against his spouse.”
Lawyers for Nadine Menendez argued in a separate motion Monday that a joint trial would “undoubtedly prejudice Ms. Menendez’s right to defend herself at a fair trial.” In their motion, lawyers for Nadine said a joint trial would likely demonstrate an “irreconcilable conflict between husband and wife” and that it would be “unfair to require either spouse to sacrifice the right to testify fully in one’s own defense or the ability to maintain the confidentiality of privileged marital communications.”
The charges Menendez and his wife are facing include conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. The couple allegedly received “cash, gold bars, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle and other items of value,” according to the indictment.
They and the three New Jersey businessman pleaded not guilty to the corruption charges.
Menendez temporarily stepped down as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee after he was indicted.
