FILE PHOTO: Senator Bob Menendez speaks to journalists after arriving to face trial for federal corruption charges as his daughter Alicia Menendez (L) looks on outside United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., September 6, 2017. REUTERS/Joe Penney / File Photo

NEWARK, N.J. (Reuters) - The bribery case against U.S. Senator Bob Menendez survived a key test on Monday, as the federal judge overseeing his trial rejected a defense motion to throw out the most serious charges.

U.S. District Judge William Walls in Newark, New Jersey, allowed the trial to proceed on all charges. He had suggested on Oct. 16 that he was inclined to dismiss the core of the case based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that narrowed the legal definition of public corruption.