Sen. Bob Menendez scarfs down fries for breakfast ahead of corruption trial day after wife revealed breast cancer
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez scarfed down fries for breakfast at a Manhattan diner Friday morning before heading to court without his wife Nadine, a day after he announced she was undergoing aggressive treatment for breast cancer.
The embattled senator was photographed having the unorthodox breakfast at George’s restaurant in downtown Manhattan, which is near the hotel where he’s been staying as he faces federal corruption charges over an alleged multi-year bribery scheme.
Menendez made the shocking disclosure about his wife’s health Thursday, a day after he blamed his other half for stashing away the $150,000 in gold bars that investigators found in the couple’s Englewood Cliffs, N.J. home in a June 2022 raid.
Nadine Menendez, 57, has also been charged in the sprawling federal corruption case that ensnared her three-term senator husband as well as Garden State businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes. However, her trial was pushed back until at least July after her attorneys said last month that she was facing a health issue that would require surgery.
In addition to the baker’s dozen of gold bars, the couple is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands in cash and a Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for wielding the senator’s influence to the benefit of the three NJ businessmen co-defendants as well as the governments of Qatar and Egypt.
On Wednesday, the senator’s attorney Avi Weitzman asserted the gold bars found in a locked closet at the couple’s home were just gifts from Nadine’s family, who he alleged were avid collectors of the precious metal.
“It’s cultural. They like to give gold and other precious metals as gifts,” Weitzman insisted, referring to her as a “beautiful, tall, international woman” of Lebanese descent.
“The evidence will show that Nadine’s family had a lot of gold,” he added, though he did not explain why the gold bars found in her closet allegedly had serial numbers tied back to co-defendant Daibes, who stands accused of bribing the couple.
Both Sen. Menendez and Nadine have pleaded not guilty.
