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(NEW YORK) — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the federal bribery trial of Nadine Menendez, less than two months after her husband, former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was sentenced to 11 years in prison for similar crimes.
A jury convicted Bob Menendez of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes — including gold, cash, a luxury convertible, payments toward Nadine Menendez’s home mortgage and compensation for her no-show job — from three New Jersey businessmen, who have also been convicted.
The FBI said it found $70,000 in cash in Nadine Menendez’s safe deposit box and the rest inside congressional jackets bearing Bob Menendez’s name.
Shortly after the two began dating in 2018, Nadine Menendez introduced Egyptian intelligence and military officials to then-Sen. Bob Menendez, according to federal prosecutors, who alleged those introductions helped establish a corrupt agreement in which they accepted bribes in exchange for her husband’s actions to benefit Egypt.
On the eve of jury selection, the former senator posted on X that his wife is being “forced by the government to go to trial tomorrow” despite having recent reconstructive surgery for breast cancer.
“Only the arrogance of the SDNY can be so cruel and inhumane,” Bob Menendez said in the X post, which tagged President Donald Trump.
Nadine Menendez was supposed to stand trial alongside her husband, but the judge allowed her to stand trial separately to accommodate her breast cancer diagnosis. Her trial has been postponed several times while she underwent treatment.
She is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In January, Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted on all 16 counts last year in his federal corruption trial, becoming the first sitting member of Congress to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent.
Following his sentencing, Bob Menendez called the prosecution a “political witch hunt” and that he hopes Trump “cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.”
In issuing the sentence, Judge Sidney Stein said the former senator will not have to report to prison until June 6 so that he can be available when his wife goes on trial.
(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Monday he’s asking the court to withdraw the previous district attorney’s motion for resentencing for the Menendez brothers, calling the brothers’ claims of self-defense “lies.”
“We are prepared to go forward” with the hearing regarding their resentencing case, Hochman said at a news conference Monday. “However, we are asking the court to withdraw the previous district attorney’s motion for resentencing, because we believe there are legitimate reasons and the interests of justice justifies that withdrawal.”
The resentencing hearing is set for March 20 and 21.
The request to withdraw the resentencing motion is “based on the current state of the record and the Menendez brothers’ current and continual failure to show full insight and accept full responsibility for their murders,” Hochman said in a statement. “If they were to finally come forward and unequivocally and sincerely admit and completely accept responsibility for their lies of self-defense and the attempted suborning of perjury they engaged in, then the Court should weigh such new insight into the analysis of rehabilitation and resentencing — as will the People.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez are serving life without the possibility of parole.
In October, then-LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced he supported resentencing for the brothers. Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
The DA’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Weeks after Gascón’s announcement, he lost his race for reelection to Hochman.
When Hochman came into office on Dec. 3, he promised to review all the facts before reaching his own decision. He said that effort included speaking to all the prosecutors and defense attorneys involved as well as reviewing thousands of pages of court filings, trial transcripts and confidential prison records.
Hochman’s announcement on Monday comes days after one of the brothers’ cousins, Tamara Goodell, slammed the DA in a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Division.
Goodell accused Hochman of being “hostile, dismissive and patronizing” during two meetings in January with family members who want the brothers released. She said the “lack of compassion was palpable, and the family left feeling not only ignored but further intimidated and revictimized.”
Goodell wants Hochman removed and the case turned over to the attorney general’s office.
This case dates back to 1989, when Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, shot and killed their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, in the family’s Beverly Hills home.
The defense claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father. Prosecutors alleged they killed for money.
Their first trial ended in a mistrial. Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted in 1996 following their second trial.
The brothers were sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
Besides resentencing, the brothers have been pursuing two other paths to freedom.
One is their habeas corpus petition, which they filed in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father, and allegations from a former boy band member who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
Hochman announced in February that he’s asked the court to deny the habeas corpus petition, arguing the new evidence isn’t credible or admissible.
The third path to freedom is through the brothers’ request for clemency, which has been submitted to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
On Feb. 26, Newsom announced that he’s ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day “comprehensive risk assessment” investigation into whether the brothers pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if they’re granted clemency and released.
“There’s no guarantee of outcome here,” Newsom said. “But this process simply provides more transparency … as well as provides us more due diligence before I make any determination for clemency.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration is acknowledging it deported four noncitizens to El Salvador despite a court order barring the removal of people to countries other than their place of origin without an opportunity to raise concerns about their safety.
In a series of court filings overnight, Justice Department lawyers argued that the court order was not violated because the removal of four alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was carried out by the Department of Defense — not the Department of Homeland Security, which is a defendant in the lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued a court order on March 28 requiring that anyone with a final order of removal must have an opportunity to raise concerns about their safety before they are deported to a so-called “third country” that is not on their order of removal or their country of origin.
Three days after Judge Murphy’s order, the four men — who are originally from Venezuela — were flown from U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to El Salvador, according to a sworn declaration from Tracey Huettl, a unit chief for field operations with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Huettl said that each of the four men were identified as members of Tren de Aragua by federal law enforcement, and had extensive criminal records.
According to her declaration, one man admitted he was a member of the gang and that he recruited prostitutes for the organization, and another was charged with multiple crimes including discharge of a firearm and theft.
Another man is allegedly a sex offender who was charged with human smuggling and convicted for domestic assault, and the last was arrested for possession and use of drug-related objects.
None of the men had orders of removal to El Salvador before they were deported to that country on March 31, according to the filings.
Judge Murphy set an April 28 conference earlier this month to learn more about what he described as the “potential violations of the temporary restraining order.”
Last Friday, the judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring the Trump administration to give noncitizens the chance to raise concerns about their safety before they are removed to third countries.
