To be clear, it was stated that it was his 'ex-wife' who was killed, not his 'wife'. I suppose this raises the question as to how long it had been since they were divorced.
An interesting question would be: was he paying her permanent alimony? Her death would mean that the payments stop. That would be one way to financially assist a trusted fixer. I’m not saying this happened. Just pointing out how the confluence of the ex-wife’s accidental death and the timing of the debate work out well if nefarious individuals wanted something to happen.