NJ Spotlight News spoke with former Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Grammicioni about the recent federal court decision against U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez in his corruption trial. The senator’s legal team had sought a delay in the start of the trial from May to July, requesting an extra two months to sort through millions of pages of evidence provided by the prosecution. U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein denied the request.

“Two months is not much of a delay, considering the amount of documents and discovery, which I think were in the millions [of pages],” Grammicioni said. “I was surprised that the continuance wasn’t granted.”

“The government must have a strong position of wanting to go forward at the earliest possible date, and the court agreed,” he said.

Menendez is charged with bribery and allegedly accepting gold bars and cash from Egyptian businessmen in exchange for political favors. He is also charged with illegally acting as a foreign agent on behalf of Egypt in his role as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The senior senator has denied the claims.