‘I have a favor to ask you’: Prosecutors zero in on Bob Menendez’s relationship with his wife

CNN —

They had only been dating for a few months, but Nadine Arslanian, who would eventually become Sen. Bob Menendez’s second wife, had a very particular request for the New Jersey Democrat.

In a 2018 text message about his upcoming remarks at the Egyptian Embassy, Arslanian asked, “could you please” discuss Cairo’s improving relations with the International Monetary Fund and other capital projects, including the “new Suez Canal.”

Menendez seemed puzzled.

“Really???” he replied.

One minute later, according to court documents, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee went online and searched “Egypt and International Monetary Fund.” He then clicked on a page titled “Frequently Asked Questions on Egypt and the IMF.”

Nadine offered one final push in the exchange. “Will said please just speak about the IMF. That’s important,” she told the senator, referring to Wael “Will” Hana,” a co-defendant of the senator’s at his corruption trial.

The third week of that sprawling trial has featured hundreds of text messages, emails, images and voicemails sent between the senator, his future wife, Hana and an array of friends and business associates with alleged roles in the bribery scheme at the heart of the government’s case.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., leaves the Manhattan federal court after the second day of jury selection in his trial, Tuesday, May, 14, 2024, in New York. The Democrat has pleaded not guilty to bribery, extortion, fraud and obstruction of justice, along with acting as a foreign agent of Egypt.

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Nadine Menendez, though, has been the central character in the communications,