Menendez to be retried, says Politico

HUDSON COUNTY – In a report broken by Politico, federal prosecutors announced that they will retry U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, after a deadlocked jury in November resulted in a mistrial.
Annalou Tirol, acting chief of the public integrity section of the Justice Department, announced that the trial would take place as soon as possible.
“Defendants Robert Menendez and Salomon Melgen have been indicted for bribery and corruption by two separate grand juries properly impaneled in the District of New Jersey,” Tirol said in the Politico account. “The first trial ended in a mistrial with a deadlocked jury. An early retrial date is in the best interests of the public, and the United States is available to schedule a retrial at the Court’s earliest convenience.”
Menendez, a Democrat, is running for reelection as U.S. Senator this year, and this prosecution is set against a backdrop in which control of the U.S. Senate is at state. Republicans currently have two vote majority.
Federal authorities allege Menendez did political favors for Melgen, a Florida eye doctor, in exchange for gifts such as private jet flights and significant campaign contributions.
Melgen, who has been convicted on other separate counts, has yet to be sentenced, and some political observers believe the federal authorities may seek to offer him a plea deal on the earlier case to testify against Menendez in the upcoming trial.
The hung jury in the first trial voted 10 to 2 to acquit Menendez, suggesting they did not believe the prosecution’s case as it was presented.