Judge rules that Senator Menendez’s corruption trial will still begin on May 6th

A federal judge ruled that U.S Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) corruption trial will begin on May 6th, indicating that discovery has been consistent since October.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

“At the initial pretrial conference on October 2, 2023, the Court heard argument from the parties and set a schedule for, inter alia, submitting defense motions and the commencement of trial, with no party objecting. There has been no material change since then in the parties’ circumstances,” U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein ruled today.

“The fact that discovery has been voluminous is consistent with the parties’ stated expectations on October 2 and does not justify a two-month adjournment of the schedule. In fact, the volume of discovery material is less than defendants were concerned it was when they sought the adjournment on December 20.”

He also indicated that an error by a discovery vendor led the defendants to believe that there are 735 terabytes of data, but it is actually more like three terabytes of data.

Back in October, Stein wrote in an order that the last day for the government to produce discovery is December 4th, any defense motions must be filed by January 8th, 2024, with responses then due on January 29th, and any reply due by February 5th.

Menendez, then the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife Nadine are accused of conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color and official right.

They are also accused of having a “corrupt relationship” with Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes, who are all New Jersey businessmen. Those three are charged with the first two counts.

Additionally, Menendez allegedly traded government secrets with the country of Egypt to help secure a U.S. Department of Agriculture contract with Hana’s halal meat company.

Overall, the indictment charges that the Menendezes accepted corrupt payments for their mortgage, a 2019 Mercedes-Benz C-Class C300, $486,471 in cash, another $79,760 from the safe deposit box, two one-kilogram gold bars, and 11 one-ounce gold bars.

Additionally, a superseding indictment charges that New Jersey’s senior senator acted as a foreign agent to Egypt.

Menendez has hinted he will seek re-election on several occasions, but is yet to make a formal announcement either way.

At the moment, First Lady Tammy Murphy, Gov. Phil Murphy’s (D) wife, and U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-3) have announced their candidacy and the former and the incumbent have already traded some shots.

In Hudson County, the local Democratic party has already endorsed Murphy and U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez (D-8), the senator’s son, which would likely mean chaos if Senator Menendez decided to seek another six-year term.

The filing deadline for the June 4th, 2024 Democratic primary is March 25th.