Bob Menendez accuses his wife of hiding bribes in opening statements, dubbing her ‘Gold Bars’

Embattled New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is facing a high-profile bribery trial, where his defense lawyer suggested that he will blame his wife for accepting gold bars, cash payments, and hiding them from him. The trial, which began with opening statements on Wednesday, involves allegations that the couple accepted bribes in exchange for the senator’s political influence, ultimately benefiting the Egyptian and Qatari governments.

The Democrat, along with his wife Nadine Menendez and three other individuals, faces 16 federal charges including bribery, acting as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice, and extortion. Despite pleading not guilty and denying all wrongdoing, Menendez’s defense lawyer argued that it was his wife who accepted the lavish bribes and hid them from him.

During the trial in downtown Manhattan, the defense lawyer told the jury that Nadine Menendez lived a relatively separate life from her husband and kept the gold bars locked in her closet. He urged jurors to question “Where’s Bob?” while listening to evidence, emphasizing his point by showing an image of the comic book character Where’s Waldo.

The trial, which followed two days of slow jury selection, is expected to last six to seven weeks. The prosecution alleges that Menendez was “motivated by greed” and “put his power up for sale” by accepting bribes to secure deals with foreign officials and intervene in criminal investigations. The jury is set to hear from the co-defendants’ lawyers on Thursday as the trial continues to unfold.