By Evaristo Lara
May 22, 2024, 3:40 PM EDT
During the trial against Bob Menéndez, a Democratic senator accused of allegedly accepting bribes to favor businessmen and foreign governments supported by their political attacks, Prosecutors released new photographs of the raid carried out by members of the FBI at his residence in June 2022.
As crazy as it sounds, The politician with Cuban roots hid bundles with thousands of dollars inside some Timberland boots kept in his closet, space where other sums of money were also discovered placed under some sets of sheets.
In his defense, the lawyers representing the 70-year-old Democrat do not take their finger off the line to try to present him in front of the jury, first as a victim of a trauma produced during his childhood when he saw how his family was stripped of their fortune by the regime. military in Cuba, an incident that, according to his personal psychiatrist, made him an individual unable to trust banks to deposit his savings.
At the same time, too It is intended to place all responsibility for the crimes on Nadine Arslanian, wife of the senator from New Jersey. what they accuse her husband of, This is despite the fact that the Lebanese woman was recently diagnosed as a victim of stage three breast cancer.
However, Menéndez’s legal strategy tends not to vary, at least that is what his lawyers point out,
“The gold bars were found in a locked cupboard. It’s Nadine’s closet. The senator did not know that the gold bars were there,” explained Avi Weitzman, the Democratic politician’s lawyer, regarding part of the fortune discovered in his residence.
On the other hand, Federal prosecutor Lara Pomerantz defends the hypothesis that Bob Menéndez gave his wife the management of communications in the bribery scheme which could send both to jail, if their alleged guilt is proven.
“He used Nadine as his intermediary to deliver messages to and from people who paid bribes,” he said.
The truth is that the senator’s trial has a long way to go and revealing testimonies could emerge when Sidney H. Stein, the magistrate in charge of the trial, summons renowned legislators, former Washington officials and even Tim Scott, senator for South Carolina and possible running mate of Donald Trump.
Keep reading:
• Friends of Bob Menéndez’s wife rule out that she is the one who agreed to bribes in exchange for favors
• Bob Menéndez pleads “not guilty” on accusation of being an agent of a foreign government
• Bob Menéndez had to leave the presidency of the Senate Committee due to accusations of bribery for thousands of dollars