Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer was among a group of high-profile politicians who called for Sen. Bob Menendez to resign Tuesday after the New Jersey Democrat’s conviction on corruption charges, ramping up pressure on the embattled politician to step down.
Schumer joined more than half the Democrats in the Senate who called for Menendez to resign last year after charges were brought against him, including fellow New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat.
The New York Democrat released a one-line statement shortly after news broke of the conviction. “In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” Schumer said.
The guilty conviction marks a staggering downfall for a once-powerful Menendez, the former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman who prosecutors said put “power up for sale.” Prosecutors accused the senator and his wife of taking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, which included cash, gold bars and a luxury vehicle.
The jury convicted Menendez on all 16 counts, including bribery, extortion and acting as a foreign agent.
Menendez showed no signs of stepping down from the Senate and told reporters he was “deeply disappointed” by the jury’s decision and will appeal.
“I have every faith that the law and the facts [will] not sustain that decision and that we will be successful upon appeal,” Menendez said. “I have never violated my public oath. I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country.”
Menendez said he had never been a foreign agent. “And the decision rendered by the jury today would put at risk every member of the United States Senate in terms of what they think a foreign agent would be,” he said.
The top lawmakers on the Senate Ethics Committee, Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and James Lankford, R-Okla., said the panel “will complete its investigation promptly” now that the Menendez trial has wrapped up. The joint statement said the panel will consider “the full range of disciplinary actions available under the Rules of Procedure.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who was among the New Jersey Democrats who called on Menendez to resign when the charges were unveiled, reiterated his call for Menendez to resign and said the Senate should vote to expel him if he does not step down.
“In the event of a vacancy, I will exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to ensure the people of New Jersey have the representation they deserve,” Murphy said.
Booker in a statement also repeated his call for Menendez to resign, noting he had done so last fall “because of the severity of the allegations against him and how they shook the public’s trust.”
“Now, with this conviction, the urgency for Senator Menendez to step down and for the governor to appoint a replacement has even more urgency,” Booker said.
Rep. Andy Kim, the Democratic nominee for Menendez’s Senate seat, told reporters during a press call Tuesday afternoon that he hadn’t yet had conversations about a potential Senate expulsion vote.
“Right now, the ball is in the court of Sen. Menendez,” Kim said. “I’m seeing just every second another senator calling for Sen. Menendez to step down, and I think that’s where the pressure needs to be right now. If that doesn’t happen very soon, I do think that those conversations undoubtedly will happen in the Senate, and I’m sure I’ll have those conversations, too, with them.”
November election
Despite not running in the Democratic primary last month, Menendez has remained a Senate candidate after filing to run as an independent in the November election. But he’s been focused on his legal battle, rather than campaigning, and his fundraising has slowed significantly. He raised $47,000 in the second quarter of this year, with most of that coming as interest on the $3.3 million he had on hand as of June 30, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Menendez had said he hopes to run on his record. But remaining in the race allows him to use his campaign account to help fund his legal defense.
Polls have shown that Menendez bled support after the charges against him were unveiled last year. But if he remains in the race, in which Kim is set to face Republican Curtis Bashaw, he could force a closer challenge.
Kim said that Menendez shouldn’t appear on the ballot in November, saying that his presence there would remind voters of their concerns about corruption.
“We’re in as strong a position as possible. I can win this election whether Menendez is on the ballot or not,” he said.
“I think it’s very important to have a clean break here, show that this is the moment where we’re trying to show and change Jersey politics writ large,” he added.
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