Ana Navarro is blaming Sen. Bob Menendez’s legal woes on his “gold digger” wife. According to The View co-host, her longtime friend “is one of the smartest people in Congress” — therefore, she believes the recent allegations against him don’t “square away with the man” she has known for nearly 30 years.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian, are facing separate trials “on corruption charges that they accepted cash, gold bars and a luxury car in exchange for political favors,” Joy Behar explained at the top of this morning’s broadcast of the long-running daytime talk show. They have both vehemently denied all charges against them.
“Every time we talk about this, I always want to start by saying I think I’m biased. I try to be objective but I’ve known Bob Menendez for almost 30 years,” Navarro said. “I’ve worked with him on countless issues: Cuba, Nicaragua, immigration, Central American free trade.”
She added, “This Menendez that I read about here just does not square away with the man that I’ve known for all of this time.”
Navarro confirmed that the Democrat politician “never” did anything like what he’s being accused of when he was working with her.
“I don’t excuse him, I don’t justify him because Bob is one of the smartest people in Congress. It’s a low bar,” she quipped, to which Behar muttered, “It’s a very low bar.”
The political commentator then offered her take on who could be behind Menendez’s predicament, noting that there might be something fishy going on with his wife of four years.
“A lot of his friends — including me — when we saw this case thought, ‘This is not the Bob we know. Who is this woman? And how does this happen?'” Navarro recalled. “She suddenly showed up in the middle of COVID saying that she didn’t know he was a senator.”
She continued, “I think this woman — I think Bob was completely smitten, enamored. He was alone for a long time. This happened during COVID. Again, I don’t excuse him. He’s a smart guy. He should’ve known better. He’s not some stupid gullible ingenue.”
But, for Navarro, she said it “feels to me like gold bars for a gold digger.”
The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.