Menendez is charged for the third time in six months

For the third time in six months, Sen. Robert Menendez stood before a Manhattan judge Monday to be arraigned on new criminal charges filed as part of a sweeping federal bribery investigation.

Mr. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, has previously pleaded not guilty to accepting bribes and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

On Monday, he pleaded not guilty to obstruction of justice, a charge that was added last week in an updated indictment against the senator; his wife, Nadine Menendez; and two New Jersey businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes.

The new charges come less than two months before the trial’s scheduled start on May 6.

The obstruction of justice charge appears to be related to information provided by Jose Uribe, a former insurance broker who was indicted in September on a bribery conspiracy charge. Earlier this month, Uribe, 56, admitted that he tried to bribe the senator with a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for Mr. Menendez’s efforts to investigate an insurance fraud investigation in New Jersey. thwart.

Mr. Uribe also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Mr. Uribe told the judge, Sidney H. Stein of Federal District Court, that he and Ms. Menendez met at a Marriott hotel to sort out their stories shortly after he received a subpoena. He said he had agreed to lie to investigators – and to his own lawyer.

Last week’s updated indictment accused the senator and his wife of also lying to their lawyers and trying to make it appear that the car payments arranged by Mr. Uribe were loans, not bribes.