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Nadine Menendez, wife of New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, being treated for breast cancer
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Washington — Nadine Menendez, the wife of Sen. Bob Menendez, is being treated for grade 3 breast cancer and will have a mastectomy, her husband disclosed Thursday.
The New Jersey Democrat revealed his wife’s cancer diagnosis in a statement while his trial was underway in federal court in Manhattan. He and his wife are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from three New Jersey businessmen for political favors.
“We are of course, concerned about the seriousness and advanced stage of the disease,” Menendez said in a statement. “She will require follow up surgery and possibly radiation treatment. We hope and pray for the best results.”
Nadine Menendez was originally supposed to be tried with her husband and two of the businessmen — Wael Hana, owner of the halal meat company IS EG Halal, and Fred Daibes, a real estate developer.
But a judge postponed her trial until later this summer after she said she was suffering from a “serious medical condition” that requires surgery and weeks of recovery.
The senator, his wife and the two businessmen have pleaded not guilty.
Menendez said his wife asked him to disclose her diagnosis “as a result of constant press inquiries and reporters following my wife.”
It comes a day after his attorneys pinned the blame on Nadine Menendez during opening statements of his corruption trial, saying she kept her husband in the dark about her financial issues and business dealings with the codefendants.
“She was dazzling to Bob,” said Menendez’s lawyer, Avi Weitzman.
But, he said, “she kept things from him.”
“She kept him in the dark on what she was asking others to give her. She was outgoing; she was fun loving. But she wasn’t going to let Bob know that she had financial problems,” Weitzman said. “So what did Nadine do? She tried to get cash and assets any which way she could.”
CBS News
RNC committee approves Trump-influenced 2024 GOP platform with softened abortion language
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The Republican National Committee’s 2024 platform, approved by its platform committee and released Monday, is influenced heavily by presumptive presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, and in a change from prior years, it backs the rights of states to make their own abortion laws.
The 2016 RNC platform mentioned the word “abortion” 35 times and backed a constitutional amendment to ban abortion: “[W]e assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed,” the RNC’s 2016 platform said. “We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth.”
The Republican Party did not release a platform in 2020. And the 2024 platform only mentions the word once.
“We proudly stand for families and life,” the 2024 platform says. “We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process,” but it goes on to say, “the states are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights.”
The platform has been initially approved by the RNC committee, but is expected to go to a full vote Tuesday and be officially approved the first day of the Republican National Convention next week.
It also goes on to express opposition to late-term abortion and support for “policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”
Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom coalition, previously expressed concerns about removing abortion language, but he appeared to fall in line and back the GOP platform as released.
“The Republican Party platform makes clear the unborn child has a right to life that is protected by the Constitution under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment,” Reed said in a statement. “That language has been in the GOP platform for 40 years and reflects the view of Ronald Reagan. While aspirational, it applies to both the states and the federal government. The proposed ban on late-term abortion also implies federal as well as state action. It is an unapologetically pro-life position, and we are grateful to President Trump and the Republican Party for standing for life.”
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-chair Lara Trump focused on the economy and the border in their statement on the platform.
“Only President Trump can restore our economy, restore our southern border, and restore America’s standing in the world,” the two RNC leaders said in a joint statement. “His 2024 Republican Party Platform is a bold roadmap that will undo the devastating damage that Joe Biden’s far-left policies have done to this country, power President Trump to a historic victory in November, and Make America Great Again.”
The platform is titled, “2024 GOP Platform: Make America Great Again!” It bears clear signs of the former president’s influence, emphasizing enforcing border security and stopping the “migrant crime epidemic.” The platform includes a goal to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
The platform also proposes building a “great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country.”
Trump and his campaign have also adopted a new proposal in recent months — eliminating taxes on tips. Trump mentions it frequently at rallies, and it appears in the RNC 2024 platform, along with a promise to end inflation, which has been easing.
The GOP also states in the platform that there will be no cuts to Social Security or Medicare and no changes to the retirement age. It also says that the push for electric vehicles should be canceled and regulations should be cut. And it calls for “same day voting, voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship” as means to “secure our elections.”
CBS News
How Biden is fighting calls to step aside
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Houston mayor provides Beryl flooding update, says 2 million without power
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