The judge presiding over the trial of embattled Senator Bob Menendez, Sidney H. Stein, indefinitely delayed on Tuesday the trial against his wife, Nadine Menendez, who is undergoing breast cancer treatment. The decision came shortly before a jury found the New Jersey lawmaker guilty on all counts against him.
Nadine Menendez is a co-defendant in the case, where she and her husband were accused of taking cash, gold bars and a luxury car in exchange for advancing the interests of three New Jersey businessmen, as well as those of the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
The senator released a statement in May saying that his wife was "suffering from Grade 3 breast cancer, which will require her to have mastectomy surgery." Nadine's attorney wrote in a court filing a month later that she had "medical equipment implanted in her body and is in intense, chronic pain, NBC News reported.
On Tuesday, Bob Menendez's lawyers said in a statement that his "highest priority is his wife's health, and we are pleased that she is being given the time she needs to focus on treatment and recovery."
They received the news about the jury's verdict regarding the senator shortly after. The decision came after three days of deliberations following a two-month long trial. Both the senator and his wife have pleaded not guilty in the case, with the former saying last week that the "government is intoxicated with their own rhetoric."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer immediately called Menendez to resign, saying in a publication on X that he "must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate and our country."
In closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Monteleoni urged the jury to vote for convicting Menendez, saying he put his political power "up for sale." The prosecutor said that it wasn't enough for Menendez to be one of the most powerful people in Washington D.C., considering he was the chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but he "also wanted to use it to pile up riches for himself and his wife."
Authorities found gold bars worth more than $100,000 and almost half a million dollars in cash during a 2022 search of Menendez's residence. The bars' serial numbers showed they had been previously owned by Fred Daibes, one of the New Jersey businessmen charged with bribing Menendez. Over ten envelopes of cash with thousands of dollars also had his fingerprints.
The defense gave different arguments to justify the proceedings of the assets. Regarding the gold bars, it said they were inherited by Nadine Menendez, part of a broader strategy aimed at pinning the actions on her and saying she kept him in the dark about gifts accepted while going through financial trouble. However, the claim was disputed by the prosecutors, who showed the bars' serial numbers pointed to Daibes.
Prosecutors also showed that the lawmaker regularly searched for the value of gold during the period in which he allegedly used his political influence to help Daibes. Evidence about the senator's online searches were prominently showed to the jury and compared to text messages he exchanged with Fred Daibes, the businessman in question who is on trial with him.
As for the cash, the senator's older sister, Caridad González, echoed the defense's arguments by saying that keeping cash was a "Cuban thing" resulting from escaping the island in 1951. She said she also found a stash of cash in her brother's house in the 1980s.
Menendez has rejected all the accusations and filed to run for the Senate in early June. He had said he would consider running as an independent if acquitted from the charges but filed to do so before the ruling. Many Democrats have called on him to resign following the accusations, but the senator has so far refused to do so.
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