Embattled US Sen. Bob Menendez has hired a psychiatrist who testified for a double child murderer to help his corruptišon trial defense, The Post has leašrned.
Menendez (D-NJ), who has been charged with 18 counts of corruption and bribery, paid Karen Rosenbaum, a forensic psychiatrist, $4,200 last month in fees as an “expert witness,” newly released filings from his legal defense fund show.
The filing is the first hint at how Menendez wilį¦l try to defend himself wź¦ŗhen he goes on trial in federal court in Manhattan on May 6, charged with selling his office to foreign governments and receiving gold bars and cash in return.
It also reveals that the Menendez Legal Defense Fund doled out $4,400 to Michigan-based lab Riley, Welch, LaPorte Associates that specializes in handwriting analysis, among other forensic examinations, for “document review.”
Rosenbaum was an expert witness in the defense of Yoseyln Ortega, the nanny who went on trial in Manhattan in 2018 for the grisly 201ź§2 slaying of her two young children ā Alicia Krim, 6, and her brother Leo, š¦©2 ā at their Upper West Side home.
During four days of cross-examination, Rosenbaum testified that Ortega, who stabbed both children to death in the bathtub, could not be held accountable for the horrific crimes because she was in a state of psychosis, believing that Satan had orādered her to kill the children.
āItās my opinion that she has no memš°ory, that she loves the children, that she didnāt want to hurt anyone. She feels God is going to save her,ā Rosenbaum said in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Ortega was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
It is unclear exactly what she will testify to in Menendez’s trial. Robert Luskin, a lawyer representing Menendez, did not return a request for comment Tuesday. Rosenbaum did not return an email seeking comment.
Because he is still a senator, under congrš„essional rules Menendez has to detail cash he has received for his legal dš ŗefense fund and how it is spent.
The legal filing shows that the largest expenditure of $100,000 went to the Washington, DC, law firm Jones Day for “legal services” in February.
Menendez added Jones Day partner Yaakov Roth to his legal team. Roth represented defendant Bridget Kelly, an aide to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, in the “Bridgegate” case as well as Joseph Percoco,ā an aide to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo who was convicted of fraud. Both convictions were overturned.
The Menendez Legal Defense Fund took in $188,925 between January and the end of March, ź¦filings show. It doleąµ©d out $172, 555 in payments to political consultants and lawyers.
Among the highest contributors to the fund was Dennis Mehiel, a Westchester-based corrugated cardboard mogul and Democratic donor, who ź¦donated $10,000 in January, filings show.
Menendez, 70, was charged last year along with his wife Nadine Arslanian, 57, and three co-defendaānts with accepting hundreds of thousands in cash and gold bars in exchange for š«political favors.
They ź§were also charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent for Egypt and Qatarą·“.
One of the three co-defendants has pleaded guilty, but the remaining four vigorously deny the charges. Menendez claims the gold bars belonged to his wife’s late mother.
Arslanian will be tried separately from her husband after saying she was suffering from a “serious medical condition” that would require surgery within four to six weeks.
