Nadine Menendez, the wife of U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and a co-defendant in a major corruption trial set to begin next month, has asked for a delay in her May 6 trial due to a serious – though undisclosed – medical condition.
“Ms. Menendez was recently diagnosed with a serious medical condition that will require a surgical procedure in the next four to six weeks as well as possibly significant follow-up and recovery treatment,” Nadine Menendez’s attorneys wrote today in a letter to U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein. “Given her medical circumstances, Ms. Menendez is not able to assist her counsel in preparing for trial in the next four weeks. Nor would Ms. Menendez be in a physical or psychological condition to participate in a six-week trial beginning on May 6, 2024.”
The letter also includes several supporting declarations, though they were filed under seal “to protect Ms. Menendez’s privacy interests.”
Menendez’s lawyers are asking for a delay of at least a month; they propose holding a status hearing eight weeks from today to check in on Menendez’s medical condition and determine a “feasible timeline” for scheduling a new trial date.
This isn’t the first time the Menendezes, who are alleged to have participated in a wide-ranging bribery scheme involving several New Jersey businessmen and the government of Egypt, have sought to delay or alter their trials since they were first indicted last September. Bob Menendez previously asked to push back his own trial date – an effort that was rejected by Stein – and both Menendezes made motions earlier this year to separate their trials from one another in order to avoid being forced to testify against each other.