NEW YORK – Prosecutors for Sen. Bob Menendez bribery trial showed jurors hundreds of text messages, emails and phone calls over two days that show his girlfriend turned wife desperate financial situation before New Jersey businessmen she had known for a long time came to her rescue.
Prosecutors obtained evidence through the testimony of an FBI agent for a second day Wednesday as they tried to show that Menendez, 70, conspired with three businessmen and his wife, Nadine Menendez, 57, in a bribery scheme. who enriched the couple with gold bars. , hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and a luxury car.
The Menendezes and two of the businessmen pleaded not guilty, while the third pleaded guilty and is expected to testify. Nadine Menendez’s trial was postponed until July after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Through the lengthy presentation of communications that was expected to continue until Thursday, prosecutors sought to trace the relationship between Menéndez and the woman he began dating in early 2018, then known as Nadine Arslanian.
Prosecutors say the trajectory of the relationship coincided with a bribery scheme that saw the senator help a businessman and co-defendant, Wael Hana, win an exclusive contract with Egypt to certify all meat exported from the United States as meeting the religious requirements, while assisting two other businessmen financially and helping them obtain favorable outcomes in criminal cases in New Jersey.
Jurors were shown some text messages Wednesday in which Menendez and Arslanian exchanged romantic sentiments, with a kiss or heart emoji. In one message, Arslanian told the senator: “You can never lose me because I will never let you go.”
Further communications showed that during the summer of 2019, Arslanian was at risk of losing his home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jerseyafter missing nearly $20,000 in mortgage payments.
Hana provided the money to save the house, where Menendez moved after marrying Arslanian in 2020. Prosecutors say the money was part of bribes the couple received while the senator helped Hana’s company secure its monopoly on certification of meat exports to Egypt.
Defense lawyers say Menéndez did nothing outside the bounds of what politicians typically do for constituents. The 13 gold bars found in a 2022 FBI raid on the house belonged to Nadine Menendez, they say, and the reason there was $480,000 in cash stuffed in jackets, boxes and a safe was because the senator was traumatized by the loss. of his family’s fortune. before he was born.
Menendez also said through his lawyers that his wife kept him in the dark about her financial problems and he did nothing illegal.
Among other charges, Menendez is accused of acting as a foreign agent for Egypt. After his arrest, he was forced to resign from his powerful position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
