NYT: New Jersey Attorney General has opened an inquiry into 2018 fatal car crash involving Nadine Menendez

By Jeff Winter, Nicki Brown and Sabrina Shulman, CNN

(CNN) — The New Jersey attorney general has obtained records from the Bogota, New Jersey, police department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office related to a fatal 2018 car crash involving Nadine Arslanian Menendez, the wife of Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, The New York Times reported Friday.

The New Jersey attorney general’s office would neither confirm nor deny the investigation to CNN.

Nadine Menendez, who at the time of the crash was dating the senator, was questioned after the incident and it was concluded she was not at fault for the crash, a Bogota police report says.

The pedestrian killed during the incident, Richard Koop, had been jaywalking, according to the police report.

Menendez was released without a summons and allowed to leave the scene of the crash. Dash camera footage shows her being interviewed by police roughly 30 minutes after the crash.

The Bogota PD has not returned calls seeking comment, and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office declined to provide any information on the attorney general’s inquiry.

According to NBC New York and The New York Times, the inquiry started a day after reports of the accident first emerged Wednesday.

The NJAG public integrity unit will review the records from the Bogota police department and the county prosecutor’s office to see if the investigation into the crash was handled appropriately, the Times reported.

According to earlier reporting by The New York Times, Menendez was never tested for drugs or alcohol after the crash and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office declined to charge her.

“This is a case of a tragic accident, but Nadine Menendez was not at fault, did not violate any laws, and was therefore not charged with any crimes. The fact of the accident has nothing to do with the allegations in the current indictment against Ms. Menendez,” Menendez’ attorney David Schertler said in a statement to CNN.

The statement continues, “We are confident that any ‘re-opening’ of an investigation into the accident will confirm that conclusion.”

The recently uncovered information about the 2018 car crash adds new context to the federal indictment released last month against Nadine Menendez, her senator husband and three others.

According to the indictment, Nadine Menendez was involved in a car accident around December 2018 that left her without a car.

The indictment goes on to allege that two of the co-defendants in the case, Wael Hana and Jose Uribe, “offered and then helped to buy” a new Mercedes-Benz convertible worth more than $60,000 for Nadine Menendez in exchange for Sen. Menendez’s interference in a New Jersey state criminal prosecution of one of Uribe’s associates and a related state criminal probe involving one of Uribe’s employees. According to the indictment, Sen. Menendez agreed to disrupt the criminal matters in New Jersey.

Both Bob and Nadine Menendez have pleaded not guilty to all three counts they face as part of the alleged bribery conspiracy. The other three co-defendants have also denied the charges.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Sen. Menendez addressed the car crash.

“That was a tragic accident,” the Democrat said. “Obviously, we think of the family.”

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