Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife being treated for breast cancer as he stands trial on corruption charges
New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez’s wife, Nadine, is being treated for breast cancer and will undergo a mastectomy, he announced Thursday.
Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife, Nadine, is being treated for breast cancer and will undergo a mastectomy, the New Jersey pol announced Thursday — a day after his lawyer threw her under the bus at his federal bribery trial.
The diagnosis was revealed in a statement from the veteran Democrat as he appeared in Manhattan federal court on corruption charges related to an alleged years-long bribery scheme.
“We are of course concerned about the seriousness and advanced stage of the disease,” Menendez, 70, said in the statement.
The news came after lawyers for the three-term Garden State senator told jurors Wednesday that Nadine, 57 was to blame for the stash of gold bars found at the couple’s Englewood Cliffs home by the feds last year.
Nadine Menendez is also charged in the case, but her trial was postponed at least until July after her attorneys said last month she had an undisclosed health issue that required surgery.
The embattled senator said Nadine asked him to go public with the news now “as a result of constant press inquiries and reporters following [her].”
He said she has been diagnosed with “Grade 3 breast cancer” and after the mastectomy “she will require follow-up surgery and possibly radiation treatment.”
The duo is accused of accepting 13 gold bars worth $150,000, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, a Mercedes convertible and other luxury gifts as bribes.
In exchange, Bob Menendez allegedly used his political power to do favors for three New Jersey businessmen and acted as a foreign agent for the governments of Qatar and Egypt.
He and Nadine have both pleaded not guilty to the crimes.
Menendez is currently standing trial with two co-defendants, businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes.
Hana’s lawyer Lawrence Lustberg said in his own opening statement Thursday that prosecutors’ allegations are founded on “innocent acts” — arguing that his client had never bribed the couple for favors from Menendez.
Lustberg said that Nadine and Hana had been friends since 2009 and that they’d given each other pricey gifts during that time.
Similarly, Cesar De Castro, a lawyer for Daibes, said that the senator and his client had been friends for roughly 30 years and prosecutors were trying to exploit that fact.
After, the first witness called in the trial was FBI agent Aristotelis Kougemitros — who headed the raid on the Menendez home in June 2022.
He described how agents seized 52 items included gold bars found in a closet, over $400,000 in cash, jewelry and cellphones.
On Wednesday, Menendez’s attorney Avi Weitzman told jurors his client had no idea the gold bars were in his home, claiming it was Nadine who had “sidelined” the senator and taken the alleged bribes without his knowledge.
“[Nadine] kept Bob sidelined. Nadine had these relationships long before she met Bob,” he said, painting a picture of a married pair who lead separate lives — including having their own bank accounts and phone plans.
The trial is currently slated to last through July.
Nadine has not been in court for her husband’s trial so far.
Her lawyer, David Shertler, declined to comment.
With Post wires
