Federal prosecutors asked a Manhattan judge Tuesday to reject Sen. Bob Menendez’s push to delay his trial on corruption charges until after New Jersey’s June 4 primary.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams argued in a filing to U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein that the current schedule — which sets the trial beginning May 6, 2024, is “accelerated, but reasonable.”
“Nothing in the defendant’s request for adjournment, made more than two months after the schedule was set, permits a material deviation from this contemplated schedule,” Williams continued.
Attorneys for Menendez and his co-defendants pleaded with Stein last week to delay the trial until early July, citing the complexity of the case and the “amount and timing of the government’s disclosures.”
“Contrary to the government’s overheated statements to the press, this is far from an open and shut case,” the Democratic attorney said in the filing.
Bob Menendez’s legal team is trying to delay the trial’s start date. AP
Williams scoffed at the defense’s claims, writing Tuesday: “If there was a right to have several months to digest discovery before filing a motion, as the defendants suggest, the practice in this district would look quite different.”
Menendez, 69, is accused along with his wife Nadine of accepting bribes — including more than $150,000 in gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz convertible — to help businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes, all of whom are also charged in the case.
Menendez, the former chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is also accused of acting as an agent of the Egyptian government.
Two of the gold bars found during a search by federal agents at the home of Senator Bob Menendez were featured in the senator’s indictment. AP investigators also found wads of cash in an envelope kept inside the jacket with the senator’s name on it, according to the indictment. AP
If he is convicted, the New Jersey Democrat could face up to 45 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty and insists he will be prosecuted.
Although Menendez has not indicated whether he will run for another term next year, he has refused to resign in the face of a chorus of Senate Democrats and New Jersey politicians pleading with him to do so.
Despite his stubbornness, polls show Menendez losing badly as the Democratic primary to Rep. Progressive Andy Kim (D-NJ). New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy has also announced she is challenging Menendez for Senate.
The senator has so far resisted calls to resign. AP US attorney Damian Williams’ office is prosecuting the case against Bob Menendez. AP
“Those behind this campaign cannot accept that a first generation Latin American from humble beginnings can rise to become a US Senator,” Menendez said in response to the initial allegations in September.
“Worse, they see me as an obstacle to achieving their broader political goals.”
Menendez, who was first appointed to the Senate in 2006 and has been elected four times since then, previously escaped corruption charges on an unrelated matter in 2017 because of a hung jury.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
