In a significant development in the bribery case involving Senator Bob Menendez and his wife, federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed a superseding indictment on Tuesday, adding obstruction allegations and charges against the couple. The new charges come as a result of co-defendant Jose Uribe's recent guilty plea.

The superseding indictment brings forth fresh counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice against Senator Menendez and Nadine Menendez. The charges specifically pertain to their alleged efforts to conceal the bribe payments that Senator Menendez is accused of accepting from various businessmen in New Jersey.

According to prosecutors, the senator and his wife purportedly instructed their attorneys to mislead federal investigators by claiming that payments made towards Nadine Menendez's mortgage and her Mercedes-Benz were loans. However, the prosecutors assert that both the senator and his wife were aware that these payments were, in fact, bribes.

The recent accusations appear to be linked to the guilty plea entered by co-defendant Jose Uribe last week. Uribe admitted to providing Nadine Menendez with a Mercedes-Benz convertible as a bribe in exchange for the senator's assistance. It is alleged that when Menendez and his wife learned about the federal investigation in 2022, they took steps to conceal the bribe payments.

The superseding indictment highlights that "Menendez knew that both the mortgage company payment and the car payments were not loans but bribe payments and had learned about them before 2022." Prosecutors have previously alleged that the senator received extravagant gifts, including gold bars, cash bundles, and luxury watches, in exchange for performing official favors for Uribe, as well as the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

These latest obstruction charges add to the existing not guilty pleas entered by Senator Menendez, his wife, and other defendants involved in the bribery case. The trial, originally set for May, is expected to shed more light on the alleged corruption scandal that has marked Senator Menendez's political career. If convicted, Menendez would be the first sitting member of Congress to be charged with conspiracy by a public official to act as a foreign agent.