Judge denies Sen. Menendez request to delay his criminal trial to July

Judge Sidney H. Stein, the New York federal judge scheduled to preside over the bribery trial of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, rejected the defense's request to push out the start of jury selection from May to July on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

As per Stein's order, the trial will take place on May 5 in Manhattan. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, will face trial along with his wife and three New Jersey businessmen.

The request for delay was filed on Dec. 20 by the senator's attorneys Adam Fee and Avi Weitzman. They filed a letter with the judge asking for the trial to be pushed back "at least two months to early July 2024" saying that they need extra time to prepare for the trial because of the "complexity of this case" as well as the "volume and timing of the government's disclosures."

According to the letter, they have been given more than 6.7 million documents, equating to 15 million pages, to sort through.

However, their request was denied as the defense lawyers had been warned by prosecutors when the trial date was set in the fall that the amount of evidence they would turn over would be sizable.

Stein agreed with the prosecutors as the amount of evidence that has been turned over to the defense is consistent with the amount of material the government projected would be involved in the trial.

Menedez, his wife Nadine, and one of the businessmen face a charge over their involvement in a conspiracy that they illegally used Menendez as an agent of the Egyptian government.

All five of them face charges of alleged engagement in a bribery conspiracy that provided Menendez and his wife with a luxury car and hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in gold bars and cash.

They have pleaded not guilty to these charges.

Menendez gave up his position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after his arrest in September. However, he has been criticized heavily for not resigning from his Senate seat, even after Gov. Phil Murphy and other New Jersey politicians have told him to do so.

With an alleged history of corruption, he also faced trial in 2017, after being accused of accepting campaign donations and lavish vacations from Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen in return for political favors. The trial ended in mistrial and the case was not retried.

His wife Nadine has also faced scrutiny for her involvement in a fatal car accident in December 2018 when she struck and killed 49-year-old Richard Koop while driving her Mercedes Benz in Bogota.

According to a Bogota Police Department investigation report, she was not at fault in the crash as "Mr. Koop was jaywalking and did not cross the street at an intersection or in a marked crosswalk."

She also apparently has a habit of frequently calling the police as she has called her local Englewood Cliffs Police Department at least 18 times over the last 14 years.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bob Menendez request to delay trial denied by judge