Menendez Trial to Proceed Without His Wife

Nadine Menendez, also facing bribery charges, will be tried separately because of health issue
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 10, 2024 6:14 AM CDT
Updated Apr 11, 2024 1:23 PM CDT
Senator's Wife Seeks to Delay Trial Over Medical Issue
Nadine Menendez, wife of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., leaves Manhattan federal court, Thursday, March. 21, 2024, in N.Y.   (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
UPDATE Apr 11, 2024 1:23 PM CDT

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey will go to trial as scheduled on May 6 over bribery charges, but his wife will not be tried with him. Citing an undisclosed medical issue involving Nadine Menendez that will require surgery, the judge in the case has ordered separate trials, reports NBC News. Her trial has been tentatively scheduled to begin in July.

Apr 10, 2024 6:14 AM CDT

The wife of New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is asking a judge to delay her bribery trial because of an unspecified medical issue, reports Politico. Nadine Menendez, 57, will require surgery in four to six weeks for a newly diagnosed "serious medical condition," according to a legal filing. "Given her medical circumstances, Ms. Menendez is not able to assist her counsel in preparing for trial in the next four weeks," it states. "Nor would Ms. Menendez be in a physical or psychological condition to participate in a six-week trial beginning on May 6, 2024."

The latter is the scheduled start of the trial in a case that accuses her and her husband of accepting lavish gifts in exchange for the senator wielding his clout to help the governments of Egypt and Qatar. As the New York Times notes, it's possible the judge will try the couple separately, as they have requested, or will try them together at a later date. Bob Menendez has been pushing for a speedy trial because he insists he will be exonerated. He is not running for reelection as a Democrat but is keeping open the possibility of doing so as an independent in the fall. (More Bob Menendez stories.)

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