Trial of Nadine Menendez, wife of Sen. Bob Menendez, delayed indefinitely

The judge presiding over the bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez indefinitely delayed the trial of the New Jersey Democrat’s wife, Nadine Menendez, a co-defendant in the case who’s undergoing cancer treatments, the court docket showed Tuesday.

“The trial of this matter is adjourned sine die,” U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein wrote in a brief ruling he signed Monday, using a Latin and legal term for without a date.

Nadine Menendez’s lawyer, Barry Coburn, declined to comment on the delay in her trial. She was charged along with her husband in an indictment last year alleging they traded political favors for hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold bars and cash from three New Jersey businessmen, but her trial was delayed after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

After the judge ordered the indefinite postponement of her trial, a jury delivered a verdict Tuesday afternoon against the senator, finding him guilty on all counts in the case. He faces sentencing in October.

Menendez released a statement on his wife’s condition in May, saying, “Nadine is suffering from Grade 3 breast cancer, which will require her to have mastectomy surgery. We are of course concerned about the seriousness and advanced stage of the disease.” 

His lawyers, Adam Fee and Avi Weitzman, said in a statement Tuesday 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.”

Nadine Menendez’s attorney wrote in a court filing in June that she had “medical equipment implanted in her body and is in intense, chronic pain.”

He added at the time, “We ask the press and the public to give her the time, space and privacy to deal with this challenging health condition as she undergoes surgery and recovery.”

The trial of her husband and two other co-defendants began in May, and the jury began deliberations in the case Friday. The husband and wife, who began dating in 2018 and married in 2020, both pleaded not guilty.