Nadine Arslanian, wife of Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), was excused from her upcoming court appearance in her bribery case because she recently underwent cancer treatment.
Menendez’s trial was delayed for weeks due to her recent diagnosis of breast cancer. It was initially scheduled to begin last month, but has now been moved to July.
In their request to be absent from next week’s pretrial hearing, Menendez’s lawyers said she is experiencing “severe and chronic” pain from recent cancer surgery. Judge Sidney Stein granted the request on Thursday.
Senator Menendez and his wife have pleaded not guilty to charges that they accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including gold bars and luxury vehicles, from foreign interests in order to leverage their influence in the Senate.
The husband and wife are being tried separately. The senator’s trial began last month, with prosecutors alleging he “put greed first” by engaging in a “quid pro quo” scheme with business interests in Egypt.
Menendez previously faced corruption charges in 2015, but they were dropped in 2018 after a jury was unable to reach a verdict. The trial is expected to last another three to five weeks.
The senator filed for re-election as an independent this week when Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) won the Democratic nomination for his seat.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
