A federal judge in New York said on Monday that the trial of US Senator Bob Menendez on corruption charges will begin on the sixth of next May, about a week after he confirmed his innocence of the charges against him, amid growing calls for him to step down from office, while legal proceedings continue.
U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein set May 2024, <>, the start date for the trial in the case, giving prosecutors time to hand over evidence to lawyers who will represent Menendez.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused Menendez, 69, and his wife of accepting gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for the senator using his influence to help the Egyptian government and interfere with law enforcement investigations into businessmen.
Nadine Arslanian, wife of senator and businessman Jose Uribe, 56, Farid Dabas, 66, and Wael Hanna, 40, also pleaded not guilty.
The indictment included photos of gold bars and cash confiscated by investigators from Menendez's home.
Growing calls for Menendez to resign from the federal legislature (French)
Meetings and pressures
Prosecutors say Hanna arranged meetings between the senator and Egyptian officials, who pressured him to agree to military aid, and in return put his wife on the payroll of a company Hanna runs.
Earlier, Menendez maintained his innocence, saying that prosecutors sometimes make mistakes, stressing that public wisdom is no substitute for our esteemed judicial system.
He also expressed his strong belief that he would be acquitted after "all the facts have been presented" and that he would remain "a senior senator from New Jersey."
Calls are growing for Menendez to resign from the federal legislature, including fellow Democrats, and he has temporarily stepped down as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee after the accusations were announced.
This is the third time Menendez has been investigated by federal prosecutors, but he has never been convicted.