Menendez bribery trial will be separated from wife's
Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-N.J.) bribery trial will be separated from his wife Nadine Menendez’s, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
Judge Sidney H. Stein ruled that Menendez’s trial will begin May 6 as previously scheduled, but his wife’s trial has now been tentatively pushed back to July, The Associated Press reported. This comes as lawyers for Nadine Menendez argued that her trial should be delayed due to an unspecified medical condition.
“This trial is going forward without Mrs. Menendez,” Stein said on Thursday, according to AP. “The government is going to have to try this case two times.”
Lawyers for Nadine Menendez wrote to Stein earlier this week asking Stein to delay the trial because she would be undergoing a surgical procedure in the next four to six weeks for a
“serious medical condition.” Her lawyers said Thursday that their client needs more time for testing to understand the condition.
The senator’s lawyers argued that his trial should not be held up due to his wife’s medical condition, saying that the allegations he faces are a “specter” that “effectively removes his ability to run in this year’s election,” per the AP.
Prosecutors argued that the court should delay the entire trial, noting that they did not want to have to argue the case twice.
“We’re ready to try this case, we want to try this case,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Richenthal said. “We don’t want to try this case twice.”
They also argued that severing Menendez’s trial from his wife’s “would result in the serious inefficiencies and unfairness that the Supreme Court and Second Circuit have long held warrant trying together defendants charged in a single case with having committed crimes together,” according to court documents.
Stein also rejected motions to dismiss the charges and to move the case to New Jersey, according to AP.
The couple was initially charged in September on allegations they accepted over $600,000 in bribes from a group of New Jersey businessmen on behalf of interests in Egypt. They have since been charged with more counts, including conspiring to cover up alleged bribery schemes with three New Jersey businessmen.
The senator faces 16 charges while his wife faces 15. They have pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The Hill has reached out to lawyers for the senator and his wife for comment.
The Associated Press contributed.