Federal bribery trial of Bob Menendez’s wife set to start on Tuesday

(NEW YORK) — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the federal bribery trial of Nadine Menendez, less than two months after her husband, former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was sentenced to 11 years in prison for similar crimes.

A jury convicted Bob Menendez of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes — including gold, cash, a luxury convertible, payments toward Nadine Menendez’s home mortgage and compensation for her no-show job — from three New Jersey businessmen, who have also been convicted.

The FBI said it found $70,000 in cash in Nadine Menendez’s safe deposit box and the rest inside congressional jackets bearing Bob Menendez’s name.

Shortly after the two began dating in 2018, Nadine Menendez introduced Egyptian intelligence and military officials to then-Sen. Bob Menendez, according to federal prosecutors, who alleged those introductions helped establish a corrupt agreement in which they accepted bribes in exchange for her husband’s actions to benefit Egypt.

On the eve of jury selection, the former senator posted on X that his wife is being “forced by the government to go to trial tomorrow” despite having recent reconstructive surgery for breast cancer.

“Only the arrogance of the SDNY can be so cruel and inhumane,” Bob Menendez said in the X post, which tagged President Donald Trump.

Nadine Menendez was supposed to stand trial alongside her husband, but the judge allowed her to stand trial separately to accommodate her breast cancer diagnosis. Her trial has been postponed several times while she underwent treatment.

She is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In January, Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted on all 16 counts last year in his federal corruption trial, becoming the first sitting member of Congress to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent.

Following his sentencing, Bob Menendez called the prosecution a “political witch hunt” and that he hopes Trump “cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.”

In issuing the sentence, Judge Sidney Stein said the former senator will not have to report to prison until June 6 so that he can be available when his wife goes on trial.