Indicted US Senator Bob Menendez stunned his girlfriend (now wife), Nadine Arslanian, with a romantic proposal in front of the Taj Mahal in India in 2019, as per a recently discovered video shared on X (previously Twitter).
In the video, Menendez, the head of the Senate's committee on foreign relations, performs "Never Enough" from The Greatest Showman for Arslanian, who is pictured seated on a bench close to the famous monument to love.
Arslanian accepts Menendez's marriage proposal and gives him a big hug after he gets down on one knee and presents a ring.
According to a New York Times piece that detailed their love story, the pair first met at an IHOP in Union City, New Jersey, in 2018 and clicked right away. They became friends because of their similar tastes in music, travel, and politics.
Arslanian claimed she was captivated by Menendez's enthusiasm and humour, while Menendez claimed he was impressed by Arslanian's brains and beauty.
“We were introduced by the owner of the IHOP, and I didn’t know at that time that Bob was a senator,” she said.
“He was very intelligent and had a great sense of humour, and he was very, very hot.”
However, a corruption scandal that has put them both in legal peril has eclipsed their fairy-tale romance.
Federal prosecutors accused Menendez and Arslanian of accepting bribes from three New Jersey businessmen and the Egyptian government, including cash, gold bars, and a luxury car, in exchange for using Menendez's clout to export illegal halal meat to Egypt from the United States and for other purposes, on Friday.
In addition to a 2019 Mercedes-Benz parked in their garage, prosecutors claimed they also discovered $480,000 in cash and $100,000 in gold bars hidden inside of their residence. They also charged Menendez with having Arslanian, who served as his "consultant" on international issues, attend meetings with Egyptian authorities.
Menendez and Arslanian have asserted their innocence and refuted the allegations.
The senator claimed that the prosecution had misrepresented the nature of his regular Senate duties and charged them with attempting to silence him.
Arslanian's attorney stated that she would contest the allegations in court and that she has committed no crimes.
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