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Sen. Bob Menendez and wife, Nadine, face arraignment for latest obstruction charges
NEW YORK — Sen. Bob Menendez faced arraignment Monday in Manhattan after being hit with obstruction charges last week.
Last Tuesday, Menendez and his wife Nadine were charged with obstruction of justice in a new 18-count indictment.
They remained silent as they entered Manhattan federal court Monday to be arraigned on new corruption charges.
The allegations this time include obstructing the corruption and bribery investigation into a years-long scheme in which the senator allegedly traded his political influence to benefit Egyptian government officials and for allegedly accepting gold bars, cash and a luxury car from three businessmen seeking favors.
Jose Uribe, one of the businessmen who was charged, recently pleaded guilty, admitting to a judge he gave the senator’s wife a car to influence him.
What’s in the new indictment?
According to new court documents, the senator’s wife met with Uribe after federal investigators executed search warrants at the Menendez home and, during the meeting, they allegedly discussed payments for a Mercedes-Benz convertible he gave her after prosecutors allege the senator agreed to try to influence the prosecution of someone close to Uribe. During their meeting, prosecutors said Uribe agreed he would tell investigators the car payments were loans.
The couple is now charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly falsely characterizing the return of bribe money as repayment for loans.
Menendez called the latest charges “an abuse of power” and insists he is innocent.
“The government has now falsely alleged a cover-up and obstruction,” he said in a statement. “The latest charge reveals far more about the government than it says about me. It says that the prosecutors are afraid of the facts, scared to subject their charges to the fair-minded scrutiny of a jury, and unconstrained by any sense of justice or fair play.”
Menendez, his wife, and two of the businessmen pleaded not guilty to the previous set of charges against them.
The trial is scheduled to start in May.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
National Park Service / Jacob W. Frank
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.