Prosecutors open to pushing Sen. Bob Menendez’s trial to summer

Prosecutors have asked a federal judge to postpone the corruption trial for Sen. Bob Menendez and all of his co-defendants if the judge agrees to delay the trial of the senator’s wife until after she’s treated for an undisclosed medical ailment.

The trial was set to start May 6 at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan federal courthouse in Manhattan, but Nadine Menendez’s attorneys asked federal Judge Sidney H. Stein for a delay Tuesday, saying she needs surgery in the next four to six weeks and “possibly significant” follow-up and recovery treatment.

“Given her medical circumstances, Ms. Menendez is not able to assist her counsel in preparing for trial in the next four weeks,” her lawyers said.

In a letter to Stein Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams suggested postponing the trial until July and setting a backup date in August.

He said he doesn’t oppose a delay. But he does object to trying Nadine Menendez separately from her husband and their co-defendants, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, businessmen accused of bribing the couple to secure Menendez’s influence. Another co-defendant, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty and promised to cooperate with prosecutors last month.

A second trial would result in “serious inefficiencies and unfairness” and risk an inconsistent verdict in part because the last-tried defendant would benefit from knowing the prosecution’s case beforehand, Williams wrote.

“The additional burden of a second trial on the Government, its law enforcement partners, other government agencies, lay persons, and the Court would be very significant. A second, virtually identical trial in these circumstances also presents the risk of unfairness or inconsistency that the Supreme Court has strongly cautioned against,” he wrote.

Attorneys for Menendez, a Democrat, had not responded to the letter by late Wednesday afternoon. An attorney for Daibes told the court Wednesday that he would also like an adjournment, citing the need for more time to prepare for the trial.

If the trial does not begin until the summer, that would hinder Sen. Menendez’s ability to seek reelection as an independent if he is acquitted, as he has suggested he would do. The filing deadline for independent runs is June 4.

In March, Menendez and Hana asked Stein to delay the trial, but Stein refused to do so.

Stein is set to hear on Thursday a flurry of motions both sides have filed in the past week, including a request by Nadine Menendez’s attorneys to withdraw from the case for reasons they have not disclosed. Prosecutors have indicated they could call at least one of her lawyers as a witness, alleging he has knowledge of their claim that Nadine Menendez tried to obstruct justice during their investigation.

Menendez, a three-time senator, is accused of accepting gold bars, a luxury car, cash, and other bribes in exchange for using his position to help the governments of Egypt and Qatar and other acts of corruption. The indictment was Menendez’s second in the past decade; he was indicted in 2015 on allegations that he accepted gifts from a Florida friend in exchange for his influence, but the case ended in a mistrial.

He has denied wrongdoing.