Embattled Sen. Bob Menendez is facing a new perfect storm of legal and political troubles — splitting from the super-lawyer defending him against charges of bribery, facing speculation that one of his co-accused’s closest associates could be ratting him out to federal prosecutors, and seeing his polls plummet.
The New Jersey Democrat quietly split from his longtime powerhouse lawyer Abbe Lowell — who secured his acquittal from previous bribery charges — and instead signed up with Washington-based attorney Robert Luskin.
Ironically for an indictee fighting charges he took bribes in gold bars, Luskin was himself once paid in gold bars by another client — earning the nickname “Gold Bar Bob,” the same as the senator’s.
[Prosecutors have apparently flipped one of Menendez’ donors and the business partner of co-defendant Fred Daibes. Maybe Lowell dumped Menendez, eh? It does not appear to be going swimmingly for Gold Bar Bob, but he’s managed to beat the rap before. — Ed]
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