Informant in Menendez case recorded conversations, shared details with investigators: Filing

A “confidential” informant handed over recordings of conversations and shared details with federal investigators looking into Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-N.J.) bribery case, according to a recent court filing.

Federal prosecutors filed a 196-page brief Monday night arguing against a set of pretrial motions Menendez and other defendants had filed asking to dismiss the case and to sever the defendants’ cases from each other. Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were indicted last year on federal bribery charges, and he has since been accused of acting as a foreign agent with his wife and New Jersey businessman Wael “Will” Hana.

Federal prosecutors have now revealed they have had access to recordings from an informant, which could shine some light on what kind of evidence prosecutors will use against Menendez and the other defendants. In their brief, prosecutors argued that there was “no basis to sever Menendez from the other defendants.”

The filing also pushed back on an argument put forward by Menendez’s lawyers that contends “he was a purported victim of Hana’s.” The prosecutors pointed to a recording that appears to undermine that argument, according to the court documents.

“For example, the recording by a confidential source discussing the bribery scheme reflects that there was no honor among thieves,” the court filing reads.

In a separate part of the brief, prosecutors cited “information from a confidential source,” including “recordings made by the source, reports of debriefings with the source, and draft translations of the recordings.” The court filings did not name the source.

The New York Times earlier reported on the recent filing.

Menendez was accused in a second superseding indictment last month of accepting gifts from the Qatari government. He said he received “absolutely nothing” from Qatar and has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges he faces.

The Hill has reached out to lawyers for Menendez, Nadine Menendez and Hana.