Senate could vote to expel Menendez after guilty verdict

The Senate may move to expel Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., now that a jury found him guilty of 16 charges, including bribery, extortion, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. The Senate Ethics Committee announced it will complete its investigation into Menendez promptly and consider the full range of disciplinary actions. 

The committee immediately opened an investigation into Menendez’s conduct when he was indicted in September 2023 on corruption charges. It paused the inquiry to avoid interfering with an ongoing criminal matter.

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According to the Rules of Procedure, the Senate Ethics Committee can recommend expulsion. That would require a two-thirds vote of the full chamber. The committee can also recommend censure, payment of restitution and removal from positions of responsibility, like committee assignments. 

Menendez already stepped down as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He could be stripped of his committee assignments entirely, including the Foreign Relations, Banking and Finance Committees.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., the Democrat running to replace Menendez this November, all called for the Garden State’s senior senator to resign.

“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 in a statement.

If Menendez is expelled, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, D, would appoint a replacement for the final six months of his term, which ends in January.

Menendez accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, gold bars, a Mercedes and other lavish gifts in exchange for using both his Senate seat and position on the Foreign Relations Committee to help New Jersey businessmen.

Menendez accepted bribes from Jose Uribe in exchange for disrupting a criminal case in the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office related to associates of Uribe. He also pressured a senior member of the Department of Agriculture to protect a monopoly on halal meats granted to Wael Hana by the government of Egypt.

Menendez’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 29. His defense team said it plans to appeal the conviction.