But a lawyer for Ms. Menendez, the wife of former Senator Robert Menendez, told jurors at the start of her bribery trial that she lacked “knowledge and intent.”

Nadine Menendez and her prison-bound husband — former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez — were “partners in crime," a prosecutor told a jury Monday as opening statements began in her trial over allegations that the power couple accepted bribes of cash and gold bars.