Calls for Sen. Bob Menendez resignation grow amid bribery charges

Calls for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to resign have grown since being indicted on federal charges of bribery on Friday, Sept. 22. The indictment accused Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, of participating in a “years-long” bribery scheme with three New Jersey businessmen.

Since the indictment, members from both political parties have called for Menendez to resign, including well-known Democrats like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Menendez has pushed back on the calls for his resignation.

“Those who believe in justice believe in innocence until proven guilty,” Menendez said in a statement Friday. “I intend to continue to fight for the people of New Jersey with the same success I’ve had for the past five decades. This is the same record of success these very same leaders have lauded all along.”

The indictment alleges that Menendez and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from three New Jersey businesses to use his power to “protect and enrich them, and to benefit the Government of Egypt.”

While Menendez has said publicly he will not resign, as of Friday, Sept. 22, he has stepped down as the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In 2017, Menendez was charged in a bribery scheme that ended with a mistrial as a jury could not agree on a verdict. In that case, Menendez was accused of being involved in a bribery scheme with a doctor.

According to Friday’s indictment, during a search of the Menendez home, federal agents found $480,000 in cash, much of it stuffed in envelopes hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe, along with more than $100,000 worth of gold bars and a luxury car paid for by one of the businesses named in the indictment.

All defendants listed in the indictment are set to appear in a federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday, Sept. 27.