JUDGE DOES NOT DISMISS MENENDEZ INDICTMENT

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez’s trial on bribery and other charges will go ahead as planned after a federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Supreme Court ruling did not require him to dismiss the indictment.

But U.S. District Judge William Walls could still rule on the arguments made by Menendez lawyers after hearing prosecutors’ evidence at the trial. Jury selection is to begin this month, with the trial starting after Labor Day.

Menendez’s attorneys had argued that the high court’s reversal of the conviction of Robert McDonnell, the former governor of Virginia, changed what the government has to show to prove bribery so much that the senator’s April 2015 indictment should be thrown out.

Menendez is accused of using his office to benefit the business interests of co-defendant Salomon Melgen, a friend and Florida eye specialist.