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... Lawyers for Menendez and his wife, Nadine, objected Friday to prosecutors seeking to offer such evidence in New York federal court, where they're accused of accepting bribes of cash, gold bars and a car in exchange for political favors for three businessmen.

Jurors shouldn't be told about their "preference for expensive luxury items" including his preference for Bombay Sapphire Gin, cigars and upscales meals on a limited salary, and her handbags and jewelry while desiring a Mercedes-Benz, according to separate filings by the couple's lawyers.

"There is no yacht or vacation home that was draining Senator Menendez's finances," lawyers for the New Jersey Democrat wrote in the filing. "He lived well within his means as a federal government employee."

Menendez's lawyers ridiculed prosecutors for trying to brand run of the mill purchases as luxury items.

$23.99 Gin

Nothing about a bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin, which sells for $23.99, "smells of excess," they said.

But in the flurry of Friday filings, prosecutors also included new details about their investigation of Menendez's relationship with a medical testing company that hired his wife. The judge had previously said the company's owner was "an alleged beneficiary of the bribery scheme," one filing said. ...