Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and the two New Jersey businessmen who were convicted last month of bribery on Monday requested that the judge vacate their guilty verdicts, Politico reported.
Menendez last month was convicted of bribery, acting as an agent of a foreign government. Prosecutors accused him of taking cash and gold bars from three businessmen in exchange for helping the governments of Qatar and Egypt.
Two of those businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, also were convicted. The third, Jose Uribe, testified against them after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services fraud, and obstruction of justice.
Menendez and his co-defendants separately filed motions asking U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein to vacate the jury's guilty verdicts. Menendez argued that prosecutors disregarded the "speech or debate" clause of the constitution that protects lawmakers and that evidence shown in the trial should not have been revealed to the jury, such as testimony from two of his own aides.
"These convictions will make terrible, dangerous law," Menendez attorney Adam Fee wrote in the filing. "All of Senator Menendez's convictions must be reversed."
Politico notes that Stein could also order a new trial for the three defendants, or acquit them using his own legal judgment.