Sen. Bob Menendez takes a selfie with his wife Nadine and businessman Wael Hana. The three are co-defendants in an 18-count federal corruption indictment. (Courtesy of U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York)

The corruption trial of Sen. Bob Menendez is scheduled to resume Tuesday after a three-day break caused when co-defendant Fred Daibes tested positive for COVID-19.

During a remote hearing Monday, lawyers in the case said they believe the case will continue until at least the week of July 8, a bit later than Judge Sidney H. Stein had warned jurors when the trial began. Prosecutors said they expect to rest their case by June 25 and defense attorneys said they will present a case that will take about two weeks.

Tuesday is expected to see more testimony from U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger, who told jurors last week that Menendez had asked him to “look at” criminal charges the U.S. Attorney’s Office had filed against Daibes under Sellinger’s predecessor. When Sellinger’s bosses forced him to recuse himself from the Daibes matter, Sellinger said, Menendez ended their friendship.

Prosecutors are also expected to call to the stand Michael Soliman, a former adviser to Menendez.

There was some debate Monday over a defense witness, attorney Michael Critchley, who has asked to be deposed remotely instead of coming to the courtroom to limit potential exposure to COVID-19.

“The deep concern, your honor, is COVID, and specifically knowing that one of the defendants has taken ill with it, that others were certainly exposed to it, and a deep concern over perhaps another lawyer or more having tested positive. Mr. Critchley is leaving for Europe on Wednesday,” his lawyer, Kevin Marino, told Stein.

Prosecutors objected, but Stein allowed defense attorneys to schedule a video deposition of Critchley.

Critchley was in Trenton on Monday representing George Norcross III, an insurance executive and Democratic power broker indicted by the state Attorney General’s Office and charged with racketeering. Norcross has denied the charges.

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 30: Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in court for his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024 in New York City. Judge Juan Merchan gave the jury instructions, and deliberations are entering their second day. The former president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images)

Both Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Republican state Sen. Mike Testa said the guilty verdicts a New York jury handed down to Donald Trump made Thursday “a sad day” — though predictably for different reasons.

For Sherrill, who was elected to the House in the 2018 Democratic wave that was largely seen as a rebuke to Trump’s first two years in office, Thursday was a sad day in our nation’s history because it represents the first time an American president has been convicted of a crime — but, she added, “it is also a critical day for the rule of law.”

“The former president must be held accountable for all his illegal actions, and it is paramount that we protect the judicial process and our democratic institutions,” Sherrill said.

For Testa, the sadness of the day was because of “persecution via prosecution.”

“I will be happily awaiting the appeal of this verdict. There appears to have been a sundry of errors which are ripe for appeal,” he said. “I am praying for President Trump, his family, and for the United States of America.”

Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president in November, called the proceedings a “rigged, disgraceful trial.”

Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat, said the verdict “has reaffirmed that no one is above the law, not even a former president.”

“The fact is that former President Trump was afforded his due process rights and was able to mount a full defense in a court of law, like every criminal defendant should. The 34 guilty verdicts in President Trump’s case mean that a jury of his peers, after impartially reviewing the evidence presented and having sworn an oath to perform their duties faithfully, unanimously determined beyond a reasonable doubt — 34 separate times — that the former president broke the law,” Booker said.

Jack Ciattarelli, who is seeking the GOP nomination for governor next year, said the American people will render their own verdict in November.

“Regardless of what anyone thinks about Donald Trump, would these charges have ever been brought if he wasn’t running for President? Legal experts on both sides are saying that these convictions are likely to be overturned on appeal. I agree.”

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Rotunda in New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)

Critics of a bill that aims to overhaul the Open Public Records Act are panning the Legislature for approving the bill Monday and sending it to Gov. Phil Murphy for his signature.

The bill seeks to make it harder for records requestors to get attorney’s fees from public entities that are found to have withheld public documents, allow judges to ban some requestors from filing requests entirely, and allow governments to charge more money for handing over some documents.

“The OPRA bill and how it was advanced is what’s wrong with our democracy. It will chill requests by media, advocates, and community activists, shielding the actions and decisions of local officials from public view,” said Dena Mottola Jaborska, New Jersey Citizens Action’s executive director.

Jim Sullivan, deputy policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, called the Legislature’s action “shameful” and called on Murphy to veto the bill.

“Legislative leaders should be strengthening mechanisms for government transparency, not undermining them in backroom deals shielded from public scrutiny,” Sullivan said.

Supporters of the bill have said it would “modernize” the Open Public Records Act by urging public entities to post more of their documents online. They have also condemned how commercial businesses have used the law — municipal clerks say their offices are inundated with requests from businesses — though the bill does little to address that issue.

Two mayors seeking the Democratic nomination for governor next year, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, issued statements yesterday repeating their opposition to the bill.

“I know how cumbersome OPRA requests can be,” Baraka said in a statement. “But I also know without transparency we do not have a democracy.”

Fulop indicated that lawmakers who voted in support of the bill have made themselves vulnerable at the ballot box.

“There are so many legislators that have never had a competitive race in their lives + today they placed a nice + easy to see target on themselves,” Fulop wrote on social media.

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Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver at a get-out-the-vote rally on Oct. 23, 2021. (Daniella Heminghaus for New Jersey Monitor)

It was 1995 and Sheila Oliver wanted to sound off about the state Legislature.

Oliver, then an East Orange school board member, was sparring with a state lawmaker hosting a meeting in Atlantic City on his pro-charter school bill. She told him — in what the Associated Press at the time said was part of a “spirited exchange” — that poor performance in public schools could be attributed to social problems at some students’ homes, not bad teachers.

“The state Legislature would be better served if they addressed the human services needs of these people instead of laying the blame at the feet of educators,” Oliver said.

She would soon get a chance to decide for herself what the Legislature should address when she joined the Assembly in 2004 and then became its speaker in 2010, seven years before being elected the state’s lieutenant governor.

Her 1995 clash with the lawmaker in Atlantic City illustrates what friends and colleagues of Oliver, who died this week at 71, said is her legacy: She was tough, she was passionate, and she used her influence to help those with less power.

“She has been able to live a life that I think many would envy because she has had such a positive impact on so many people,” said Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Burlington).

Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Mercer) called Oliver “the type of leader that we all aspire to be.”

“I was blessed to be able to be under her tutelage. I hope more women are inspired, when they hear about her passing, to see how they too can put a footprint in public policy,” she said.

The details surrounding Oliver’s death are still unknown. On Monday morning, a statement from Gov. Phil Murphy’s office said Oliver was receiving medical care at a hospital in Livingston and was “unable to discharge the duties” of acting governor (Murphy is vacationing in Italy). Senate President Nicholas Scutari became acting governor.

On Tuesday afternoon, a statement from Oliver’s family announced Oliver’s death, asked for privacy, and said more information would be released at another time. Murphy is expected to return to New Jersey in the next few days.

Oliver’s death is “a real shock to the system,” said Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer), who noted it comes soon after the March death of Ron Rice, a longtime state senator from Oliver’s home of Essex County.

“They were great public servants, and they were always there to support the underdogs and to uplift our community. Sheila, as well as Ron, both of them, were truth-tellers. They spoke truth to power, and they were open about their feelings, and they were honest,” Turner said.

A native of Newark, Oliver started her political career on the East Orange Board of Education in 1994 before becoming an Essex County commissioner for one term starting in 1996. She ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 2001, but voters sent her to the Assembly two years later.

Her rise to Assembly speaker came as part of a deal that made then-Sen. Steve Sweeney the Senate president. She held onto the post for four years.

“She was a trailblazer fighting for affordable housing at times when it wasn’t popular, fighting for community policing when it wasn’t popular, fighting for voting rights when it wasn’t popular. She was that person, a fighter from the very beginning. And that’s leadership,” Reynolds-Jackson said.

In 2017, Murphy tapped Oliver to be his lieutenant governor, and the two won an overwhelming victory at the polls that November. In the Murphy administration, Oliver oversaw the state Department of Community Affairs.

“When you need someone to get something done, I’d always say call Sheila because I knew she would get it done and done in the right way,” said Sen. Dick Codey (D-Essex).

Turner said the two became friends when they were in the Legislature together, backing some of the same bills and pushing many of the same issues. Oliver was a great mentor to so many women, particularly women of color, she said.

“We’re all grieving now. My phone’s been ringing constantly, ever since we heard that she had passed, and everybody has been just blown away by it,” Turner said.

Nikita Biryukov and Dana DiFilippo contributed.

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(Photo by New Jersey Monitor)

Sen. Ed Durr, the Republican whose stunning election victory in 2021 made him an overnight GOP star, has fought back a challenge from former running mate Assemblywoman Beth Sawyer in one of the state’s few contested primaries.

Durr’s win means he will have the Republican nomination in November as he vies for a second term against former Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli, who won the Democratic nomination Tuesday in South Jersey’s Third District.

In the district’s Assembly race, Assemblywoman Bethanne McCarthy Patrick and Thomas Tedesco Jr. — Durr’s running mates — are leading in the GOP primary and Dave Bailey Jr. and Heather Simmons appear to have won the Democratic Party nod. 

In the Democratic primary in the 27th District, unofficial results show Sen. Dick Codey defeating Sen. Nia Gill, a primary win that kills Gill’s chance to return to the Statehouse next year. The two former running mates ended up opponents after redistricting put them in the same district, and the Democratic Party establishment, including Gov. Phil Murphy, backed Codey over Gill. No Republican filed to run in November in this Democratic stronghold.

In the Senate race in the Fourth District, former Washington Township Councilman Chris DelBorrello is headed to victory against Gloucester County Commissioner Nick DeSilvio in the GOP primary. Republicans are hoping the upcoming retirement of the district’s longtime senator, Sen. Fred Madden (D-Gloucester), will put the seat in play in November.

DelBorrello will face off in the fall against Democrat Paul Moriarty, who now represents the Fourth District in the Assembly.

In the district’s Assembly race, DelBorrello running mates Amanda Esposito and Matthew Walker, a former Buena Borough council president, have defeated their challengers.

The three incumbents won in the GOP primary in the 26th District, where Assemblymen Brian Bergen and Jay Webber defeated former Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce and Robert Peluso. In the district’s Senate primary, Sen. Joe Pennacchio won the Republican nod against challenger Tom Mastrangelo, a Morris County commissioner.

Other winners on Tuesday include Democrats Sen. Patrick J. Diegnan Jr. in the 18th District, Sen. Joe Vitale in the 19th, and Sen. Joe Cryan in the 20th. Newcomer Denise King won the Democratic primary for the 23rd District Senate seat. In the 31st District, Assemblywoman Angela McKnight won the Democratic nod for the district’s Senate seat.

All 120 seats in the Legislature are up for grabs in November.

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(Courtesy of New Jersey Governor's Office)

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s renewed push to increase abortion access in New Jersey faces a roadblock that may surprise casual observers of our nation’s abortion politics.

His own party.

After legislative losses last November that thinned the Democratic majority in the Legislature to its narrowest in years, Murphy has to wrangle a caucus that is less full-throated on abortion rights than the one he had in the last legislative session, making it more difficult for him to follow through on his pledge to sign a slew of new abortion bills into law.

It’s not just Senate President Nicholas Scutari who stands in the way. The Union County Democrat, who controls what bills the Senate votes on, indicated to Politico New Jersey in May he’s happy with the state’s abortion laws as they stand. A group of Democrats in the Assembly who did not support the last abortion access bill could prevent any more expansive measure from securing enough votes for passage.

One of them, Mercer County Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, told the New Jersey Monitor he generally supports a woman’s right to choose and wants Roe v. Wade to stand. The landmark 1973 U.S Supreme Court decision legalized abortion nationwide, and the court is expected to overturn it this year.

But DeAngelo said he doesn’t understand why New Jersey needs to do more than it has already on abortion rights.

“Is this just smoke and mirrors and grandstanding? Are we just trying to make someone else look good or bad, you know? I’d rather just stick to good government,” he said.

‘Reproductive freedom’ bills

In October 2020, a group of New Jersey’s Democratic lawmakers introduced the Reproductive Freedom Act, a bill they said was a response to the erosion of abortion rights at the federal level.

A month prior, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died, giving then-President Donald Trump a chance to replace the pro-choice advocate with an anti-abortion jurist and giving abortion foes their first chance in decades to get the Supreme Court to strike down Roe v. Wade.

But New Jersey’s measure — which would have codified the right to abortion, funded state programs for pregnant women, and required insurers to cover the procedure, among other things — stalled in the Legislature despite intense lobbying on both sides.

The Legislature didn’t act until January 2022. This was during the lame-duck session following legislative elections that saw Democrats lose six Assembly seats and one critical senator in Stephen Sweeney, then the senate president. The bill was revised and became the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act, which still codified abortion rights but stopped short of requiring insurers to pay for abortions.

The bill passed the Senate 23-15 and the Assembly 45-24. No Republicans voted in favor, though four abstained.

It was not met with unanimous support from Democrats, either. One Senate Democrat — Fred Madden — voted no and seven Assembly Democrats either abstained or did not vote. DeAngelo, Joe Egan, Tom Giblin, Gabriela Mosquera, and Gary Schaer abstained. Annette Quijano and Angelica Jimenez did not vote.

Quijano did not respond to requests for comment. The remaining seven Democrats gave varying reasons for not supporting the bill.

Madden said he “didn’t agree with the concept of what was being done,” and would not clarify. DeAngelo said he did not have enough time to examine the bill. Giblin said he “wasn’t sure of the implications of the bill.” When she abstained, Mosquera told her fellow legislators she’s pro-choice but personally chooses life and is conflicted, citing her Catholicism. Jimenez said she could not recall why she didn’t vote, saying she generally votes when she’s in the Statehouse.

“I do support a woman’s right to choose,” said Jimenez, a Hudson County Democrat. “I do have concerns on how far along a woman has to do that, but I am in favor of a woman’s right to choose.”

Democrats and abortion

When Roe v. Wade was decided, it wasn’t uncommon for elected Democrats to be anti-abortion.

In 1978, there were 125 anti-abortion Democrats in Congress. Now, the number is two.

Views on abortion have changed among the Democratic electorate as well. In 1975, 19% of Democrats thought abortion should be legal under any circumstances, per Gallup. That figure is now 57%. The share of Democrats who think abortion should be illegal in all cases dropped in that time period from 26% to 4%.

Some of the Democrats who voted no on the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act or did not vote stressed they are pro-choice, and none would say they oppose abortion in all cases. But many of them expressed some hesitancy about the procedure.

Egan said he’s “against late-term abortions.” Schaer told the New Jersey Monitor Tuesday he couldn’t remember why he abstained on the bill, but when it came up for a vote in January he also expressed concern about abortions in the final months of pregnancy.

“I don’t know how you can say in a piece of legislation that a woman who is eight months, three weeks, and six days pregnant can have an abortion. I don’t understand how that can happen in any kind of civilized society,” he said then.

Giblin said he is concerned about a Murphy proposal to allow nurses and midwives to perform the procedure. DeAngelo said he worries about juveniles getting abortions without their parents’ consent and, like Egan and Schaer, is wary of allowing late-term abortions.

To make things harder for Murphy, last year’s legislative elections winnowed the number of Democrats he has to count on. Six Assembly Democrats, all yes votes on the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act, lost to Republicans, bringing the total number of Democrats in the Assembly on the record as supporting the bill down to 39, two short of the minimum it would need to pass now.

Spokespeople for four of those six Republicans said they would have voted no on the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act.

Murphy renewed his push for bills increasing access to abortion last month, soon after a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion signaled the court has the votes to overturn Roe, which would allow states to further restrict or ban the procedure.

“A person’s ability to access abortion care should not depend on how much money they make. If we’re going to guarantee the right to an abortion, we need to guarantee access to an abortion,” Murphy said then.

Egan, Mosquera, DeAngelo, Madden, Jimenez, Giblin, and Schaer told the New Jersey Monitor they haven’t read or had time to study Murphy’s newest abortion proposals. They each declined to comment specifically on it.

Nikita Biryukov, Dana DiFilippo, and Sophie Nieto-Muñoz contributed to this story.

An earlier version of this story should have said the Legislature passed the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act in January 2022.

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Former state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. is again challenging Rep. Tom Malinowski in the 7th District in November.

New Jersey voters delivered few surprises Tuesday, with preliminary election results in the state’s 12 congressional districts showing primary wins for all incumbents and victories for nearly all of the challengers who had official party support and the most campaign cash.

Former state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. won the 7th Congressional District’s seven-person Republican primary by a wide margin, setting Kean up to challenge Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski in November for the second time.

Malinowski, who handily defeated his one challenger today, eked out a victory against Kean in 2020 but heads into the fall handicapped by a newly drawn district that favors the GOP and a national environment inhospitable for Democrats.

“New Jersey needs a leader with a clear vision and the right experience to make a difference,” Kean said in a statement. “I am committed to taking on Washington’s out-of-control spending and delivering the honest public service that the people of this district deserve.”

In the 4th District, Rep. Chris Smith defeated three challengers — Mike Crispi, Steve Gray, and Mike Blasi — in the GOP primary in his bid for a 22nd term. Smith was targeted by Donald Trump after Smith voted in favor of President Biden’s infrastructure plan last year, but preliminary results show Smith leading his closest challenger by 10,000 votes.

In the 1st District, Rep. Donald Norcross easily defeated Mario DeSantis in the Democratic primary. Rep. Jeff Van Drew won the Republican primary in the 2nd District against John Barker and Sean Pignatelli. Rep. Andy Kim, a Democrat representing the 3rd District, easily survived a challenge from Reuven Hendler.

“These are tough times for our nation, and I believe these challenges call on all of us to earnestly work together to build unity,” Kim said in a statement. “I am ready to roll up my sleeves to build a diverse and strong coalition to do this hard work for this community and country that has given me and my family so much.”

Kim’s Republican opponent in November will be Bob Healey, who led a contentious GOP field that included Ian Smith, a gym owner who gained fame in 2020 after defying state lockdown orders.

In the 5th District Republican battle to take on Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer in November — Gottheimer ran unopposed Tuesday — Frank Pallotta won a close race against Nick DeGregorio, who conceded his loss Wednesday morning.

Democrat Rob Menendez, the son of Sen. Bob Menendez, swamped challengers David Ocampo Grajales and Ane Roseborough-Eberhard in the 8th District. Incumbent Rep. Donald Payne Jr. easily defeated fellow Democrats Imani Oakley and Akil Khalfani in the 10th District.

In a statement, Menendez noted that since he declared his candidacy, the nation has seen Russia invade Ukraine, the U.S. Supreme Court signal it may overturn Roe v. Wade, and massacres in Buffalo and Uvalde.

“I think about these challenges every day and they weigh on me, as they do on the entire country,” he said. “But I believe we can overcome them because I believe in this country and what it represents.”

Five House Democrats from New Jersey ran unchallenged Tuesday: Reps. Gottheimer, Frank Pallone, Bill Pascrell, Mikie Sherrill, and Bonnie Watson-Coleman.

In the Republican primary in the 11th District — represented by Sherrill — Paul DeGroot defeated challengers Tayfun Selen and Toby Anderson.

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(Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

New Jersey voters are headed to the polls Tuesday to select who the candidates will be in November’s general election, with political observers focused on a handful of congressional races that could prove pivotal for Republicans hoping to regain control of Congress in 2023.

One of the most closely watched contests is in the 7th Congressional District, represented now by Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski. The district became more Republican after its boundaries were redrawn last year, making Malinowski the New Jersey Democrat most in danger of losing reelection in the fall. Democrats control 10 of the state’s 12 congressional seats.

Malinowski won one of the nation’s closest races in 2020 against Republican former state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., who is hoping for a rematch in November. Kean is on Tuesday’s ballot seeking the GOP nomination with six other men.

The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election handicapper, rates the 5th District as one likely to remain in the Democratic column. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat seeking a fourth term in November, is unchallenged in his party’s primary, and three Republicans are battling to face him in the fall: former U.S. Marine Nick De Gregorio, 2020 GOP nominee Frank Pallotta, and Sab Skenderi.

Cook predicts the 3rd District will also be a likely Democratic win in November. Incumbent Rep. Andy Kim has one challenger, Reuven Hendler, on the Democratic side. Nicholas Ferrara, Bob Healey, and Ian Smith are Republicans vying for the GOP nomination. Smith, a gym owner, made headlines in 2020 when he defied New Jersey lockdown orders and again earlier this year when he was arrested and charged with drunken driving.

Rep. Chris Smith, who represents the 4th District, is seeking his 22nd term in Congress, but first he must secure his party’s nomination against three challengers, Mike Blasi, Mike Crispi, and Steve Gray. Smith earned Donald Trump’s ire when he voted in favor of President Biden’s infrastructure bill last year, but despite Trump’s plea for someone to challenge Smith, the congressman has far outraised his GOP rivals. Matthew Jenkins is the Democrat running unchallenged for his party’s nomination.

The 8th District, which includes much of Hudson County, is not expected to be competitive for Republicans in the fall, so the winner of Tuesday’s primary is widely expected to win in November. The district’s longtime representative, Rep. Albio Sires, is not seeking reelection, and the state’s Democratic establishment has thrown their support behind Rob Menendez Jr., the son of Sen. Bob Menendez. David Ocampo Grajales and Ane Roseborough-Eberhard are opposing him for the Democratic nomination. Marcos Arroyo is running unchallenged for the GOP nod.

Polls close at 8 p.m.

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