Sen. Bob Menendez stands accused of many things — but “Husband of the Year” isn’t one of them.
His main defense in his latest federal corruption trial is that his wife did it.
At least, she took all the bribes, he claims — which doesn’t explain why he provided all the pro quos if she was pocketing the quid.
His lawyers say Nadine Menendez “sidelined” her hubby, and “withheld information” to make him believe nothing illegal was happening; that he didn’t know she was stashing gold bars in their home.
(What about all the large bills stored in his spare suits?)
Hmm. This follows Bob’s previous claims that stockpiling gold bars was a “Cuban” thing.
The defense even had a forensic psychiatrist line up to testify it was “intergenerational trauma” he inherited from folks who’d fled Castro’s tyranny.
Then the disgraced senator’s mouthpiece alleged that the gold was a “cultural” thing for Nadine, whose Lebanese family liked “to give gold and other precious metals as gifts.”
But now they face separate trials (hers comes later, as she’s being treated for breast cancer); they’re living separately — and his lawyers blame her.
Conveniently, they’re still married so neither can be compelled to testify against the other, and so neither potentially self-incriminate nor rat.
Three guesses as to whether Nadine’s lawyers blame Bob when her trial starts.
Again, the claim that she took all the payoffs doesn’t explain why he did all those favors for his co-defendants and for Egyptian and Qatari government officials.
The good news is that Bob’s Senate career is coming to an end; he’s off the ballot in the June 4 Democratic primary and his talk of independent run in November sounds like bluster to match his blame-the-wife chutzpah.
If the Mr. and Mrs. both manage to skate (he dodged justice in his first corruption trial, after all), they might still be wed come Husband Appreciation Day next April, but at least Gold Bars will no longer be a US senator.
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