Judge delays Menendez sentencing in corruption case until January 2025

A judge on Monday delayed the sentencing of former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez in his federal corruption and bribery case until next January.

Menendez was convicted on all 16 felony counts in July, including obstruction of justice, bribery, extortion, wire fraud and acting as a foreign agent. The case centered on allegations that Menendez and his wife Nadine accepted bribes in exchange for acting to benefit the governments in Egypt and Qatar when he was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He was originally scheduled to be sentenced at the end of October, but the sentencing will now be delayed until Jan. 29, 2025.

The reason for the delay was not immediately clear, but it comes as friends of the former senator request that the judge consider Menendez's decades of service when it comes to sentencing.

“Surely the way he has uplifted his community and each individual whose life Bob has improved must count for something to help minimize the consequences which you have the power to impose,” Joan Dublin, president of the Metropolitan Family Health Network in Jersey City, wrote in one of the letters reported by The Hill.

No colleague of Menendez's in the Senate have sent letters to the judge that have been made public so far, but the former senator has maintained his innocence and vowed to appeal the verdict.

Mendenez's wife is also expected to stand trial in early 2025, after a judge granted an extension in her case because of ongoing cancer treatment. She has also pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.