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Photographer: Aaron P. Bernstein/Bloomberg Photographer: Aaron P. Bernstein/Bloomberg

A judge tossed out four criminal counts against U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat facing re-election this year, but left in place bribery and fraud charges that he will face at a retrial.

U.S. District Judge William Walls on Wednesday acquitted Menendez and a Florida eye doctor, Salomon Melgen, on seven of the 18 charges they faced at a trial that ended in a hung jury last November. The Justice Department said last week that it intended to retry both men in federal court in Newark, New Jersey. Walls also told prosecutors and defense lawyers that he would no longer oversee the case.

Walls dismissed three counts of bribery against Menendez and three against Melgen that involved more than $750,000 in political contributions benefiting the senator’s 2012 re-election campaign. Walls ruled that prosecutors failed to meet a higher legal standard for campaign contributions, that they were exchanged for a specific action.

The judge also dismissed an honest-service fraud count against both men relating to a $300,000 donation that Melgen made to a political action committee.

Remaining Charges

Menendez still faces charges of conspiracy, bribery, honest-services fraud, false statements and violating the Travel Act. But the stripped-down charges remove the highest-value gifts that prosecutors said were bribes by the doctor to Menendez in exchange for political favors.

Menendez is preparing a re-election campaign this year in which he is favored and faces no major Republican challenger. Even if Menendez were forced to step down, the seat would likely remain in Democratic hands because it would be filled by New Jersey’s new Democratic governor, Phil Murphy.

Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has called for an Ethics Committee investigation of Menendez.

Luxury Hotels

Prosecutors charged that Melgen gave gifts of private jet travel and luxury hotel stays, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions. Walls dismissed the counts relating to the contributions. But his ruling left in place charges related to the other gifts, as well as a false-statements case against the senator for failing to disclose the gifts.

“This case is now solely about the purest of personal hospitality allegations -- stays at his friend Dr. Melgen’s family home and reimbursed trips on a plane that Dr. Melgen was flying anyway,” Menendez attorney Abbe Lowell said. “Now the trial judge has rejected a critical legal theory on which the case was brought. The decision of the DOJ to retry the case makes even less sense than it did last week, and we hope it would be reconsidered.”

Kirk Ogrosky, an attorney for Melgen, said, “The court’s acquittal on all counts which involve monetary contributions is long overdue. There was simply never any quid-pro-quo agreement between my client and Senator Menendez, and the court has now acquitted these two longtime Hispanic-American friends on all counts that involved political contributions. Hopefully, this Department of Justice will read the court’s decision and drop the remainder of the case.”

The Justice Department is reviewing the judge’s order and considering its next steps, a spokeswoman, Nicole Navas Oxman, said.

After the mistrial, one juror said the panel favored acquittal by a 10-2 margin.

( Updates with Justice Department spokeswoman. )