During his trial on federal corruption charges, Robert Menendez, the former senator from New Jersey, tried unsuccessfully to blame much of his trouble on his wife, Nadine.
But as she seeks to avoid a lengthy prison sentence of her own, Ms. Menendez and her lawyers are now taking a swipe at her husband and his defense strategy as she presents herself as a gullible wife scarred from a series of abusive romantic relationships.
Ms. Menendez, 58, was a “convenient scapegoat” for her husband and the men convicted of bribing him, her lawyers wrote in a sentencing memo filed on Friday.
In the memo, they cite Ms. Menendez’s childhood in wartime Lebanon and her breast cancer diagnosis as they argue that a penalty of one year and one day would be an appropriate punishment when she is sentenced next month for taking bribes in exchange for arranging political favors from her powerful husband.
It’s a sentiment that Mr. Menendez, 71, now appears to share.
In a letter of support for his wife, written from a Pennsylvania penitentiary where he is serving an 11-year term, Mr. Menendez expressed regret for permitting his lawyers to depict his wife as desperate, broke and on the take.
“I regret that I didn’t fully preview what my defense attorney said about Nadine during my trial and in his summation,” Mr. Menendez wrote. “To suggest that Nadine was money hungry or in financial need, and therefore would solicit others for help, is simply wrong.”
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The post Turning the Tables, Robert Menendez’s Wife Now Seeks to Blame Him appeared first on New York Times.
