Nadine Menendez tells judge she’ll keep attorneys despite prosecutors’ claims of conflict

Nadine Menendez told a federal judge Thursday she’s keeping her current team of attorneys, even though prosecutors say her lawyers could take the witness stand in her trial that is scheduled to start in six weeks.

Prosecutors say the attorneys are privy to information related to the case against Menendez and her three codefendants — including her husband, Sen. Bob Menendez — that leaves them conflicted.

Authorities claim the couple caused their lawyers to give false information to prosecutors at meetings in 2023. They also say Nadine Menendez’s lawyers have knowledge of payments the couple made toward a new Mercedes Benz and Nadine Menendez’s mortgage that prosecutors say were repayments of bribes.

All of this will restrict the facts Nadine Menendez’s lawyers can present at trial and the extent to which they can defend their client, according to U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein. Lawyers cannot present facts they know to be untrue, Stein noted.

During Thursday’s hearing — known as a Curcio hearing — Stein posed several questions to Menendez about all the possibilities she faces if she keeps her attorneys and what could happen if they are disqualified from representing her over conflicts of interest.

Her attorneys — David Schertler, Danny Onorato, and Paola Pinto — have two weeks to come to an agreement with the government to resolve any conflict of interest. Otherwise, they may be disqualified, Stein said, because their representation could pose challenges before and during the trial. They may be disqualified even if they are not called as witnesses, Stein noted.

“That would not be an issue if you had a lawyer not involved in those underlying facts,” Stein told Menendez.

Sen. Menendez, a Democrat, is accused of bribery and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt and Qatar. Prosecutors say he took official acts in exchange for gold bars, cash, the Mercedes Benz, and more. He and his wife have pleaded not guilty.

Sen. Menendez was not present in court Thursday, and neither were the couple’s other codefendants, businessman Wael Hana and developer Fred Daibes. A fifth defendant in the case, Jose Uribe, has pleaded guilty to bribing the senator.

During Stein’s questioning of Nadine Menendez Thursday, the judge asked her if she understood the ramifications of her attorneys being disqualified from representing her. Several times throughout the questioning, she paused to converse with her attorneys, including a separate lawyer hired to counsel her solely on the conflict of interest issue.

When asked if she’s been pleased with her legal representation so far, she replied, “Very much so.”

After Stein presented her with the potential hurdles she’d face at trial, Menendez affirmed her legal representation.

When Stein asked her if she wanted time to think about it, she said, “I don’t need any more time.”

She and her attorneys left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

The trial is scheduled to begin May 6.

Sen. Menendez’s lawyer, Avi Weitzman, also appeared in court Thursday to argue for the release of evidence he said prosecutors should have delivered last week.

“We can’t have a trial by ambush,” Weitzman said.

A prosecutor said the material won’t be “highly voluminous.” Stein ordered the government to produce it by March 29.

The senator announced Thursday afternoon that he will not seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate this June — his term expires in January — but he left the door open to seeking reelection as an independent in November if he is acquitted.