the federal corruption trial against Senator Bob Menendez is turning ugly and it hasn't even started yet attorneys for the indicted senior senator are blasting prosecutors for allegedly outing his sensitive mental health information after they publicly disclosed letter sent to the judge in his corruption case detailing a psychiatric condition menendez's defense team says drove him to hoard cash in his home according to court documents menendez's attorneys plan to call a New York psychiatrist to testify on his behalf and explain how the Senator's past trauma stemming from his family history as refugees from Cuba and his father's death by Suicide over gambling debts formed his habit of squirreling away money specifically the hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold bars investigators found in his Bergen County Home prosecutors want the judge to block that testimony or allow a private psychiatrist to do their own evaluation it's just the latest example of the defense strategy we can expect to see when the trial begins a week from today but will these tactics play in the Senator's favor attorney and former Federal prosecutor Brian Whistler is here to explain Brian Whistler thanks uh for joining us again we're now one week out from the start of this trial and it seems we've been getting information in drips about what the defense strategy might be let me ask you about this latest iteration what is his defense team concerned about potential taint to the pool of jury that could be selected by knowing this information about the senator uh exists yeah that's exactly right b um in the latest filing I think it's been revealed that you know the government is attempting to prevent the defense from um using an expert to describe uh the basis for the Senator's actions uh precipitated upon what appears to be two uh traumatic events from the past one relating to confiscation of property when the family was in Cuba and also relating to his father's uh taking of his own life due to gambling deaths um and so I think what what has transpired is the defense has essentially said that the prosecution made this sensitive information public In Contention of a of a court order and therefore the defense is seeking sanctions against uh the prosecution as a result what does it say about these two teams yeah certainly this is uh reflective of what's obviously a very you know High States uh prosecution it's the second time that this Senator has been prosecuted by the US justice department so I think that elevates the states but clearly I mean I think the government's Position will likely be that they did in fact redact at least in part of the filing which probably in their estimation reveals an intention not to taint the jury pool the defense of course is saying look we don't know whether we're going to advance this uh expert component of the defense and therefore the jury is going to be expecting um to hear this type of expert testimony and if they don't it will raise questions in the Ur Minds about why that defense was not presented so that's that's in essence I think what the defense is advancing what do you make Brian of the strategy his defense team at least from what we know from what's been you know the court filings that we've been able to see about the the tactic that they're tactics that they're using both with uh bringing in potentially a psychiatrist um but also there was talk of bringing in someone to testify that the senator does in fact live within his means that his lifestyle is not extravagant as has been painted what do you make of those strategies the the former uh around expert testimony relating to interf family trauma that caused this type of behavior is not as common export testimony is often times elevated in the minds of jurors as having greater weight and I think that's what's uh at issue here as an effort to demonstrate to the jurors that there is a plausible basis for these actions should we expect to see more filings like this when we have just a few days left uh before his trial starts well I I look I I think it's certainly more than a live possibility right because this has been a very protracted uh you know highly animated uh pre-trial phase uh I think this issue you know as with many of these pre-trial issues are being set up uh for purposes of a potential appeal there will be a lot more to come I'm sure both possibly pre-trial and certainly during the trial it's going to be uh very interesting and and a lot a lot at State and we'll be coming back to you on that no doubt Brian Whistler thanks so much for joining me great to see you thanks for your time [Music]