Bob Menendez's legal strategy may include blaming his wife, the filing says – Top Stories (Trending Perfect)

Menendez's lawyers had asked to keep these rulings secret because they believed that announcing the defense strategy could taint the jury. But the judge ordered the clips to be published on Tuesday afterward A coalition of media organizations sought to reveal this information.

The senator and his wife will be tried separately, a federal judge ruled last week.

Bob Menendez's trial is scheduled to begin May 6 in Manhattan federal court, while Nadine Menendez's trial is expected to begin later this summer.

Nadine Menendez's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bob and Nadine Menendez, as well as two of his aides, were initially charged last September, in a scheme that officials say included gold bullion, piles of cash and efforts to secretly use the senator's powerful position to benefit the Egyptian government.

In March, prosecutors added charges of racketeering and obstruction of justice. The subsequent indictment again alleges that Menendez and his wife accepted bribes — including cash, gold, and a luxury car — in exchange for the senator using his influence on behalf of the Egyptian and Qatari governments.

One of the bribes alleged by prosecutors was allegedly for Nadine's new Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible when she was first dating the senator.

She received the luxury car, according to prosecutors, from a business associate of a friend of hers — in exchange for Menendez's alleged efforts to disrupt ongoing criminal proceedings involving two people close to that associate, who was charged alongside the couple, as well as two other business managers in New Jersey.

Aaron Schiffer, Isaac Stanley Baker, Praveena Somasundaram and Anumita Kaur contributed to this report.