US Senator Charged with Bribery Rejects Calls For Resignation

U.S. prosecutors have charged powerful Senator Bob Menendez and his wife with taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen, which could complicate Democrats’ efforts to keep their slim majority in the U.S. Senate in next year’s elections.

Menendez later stepped down temporarily from his role as Chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee until the case is resolved, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement, adding that Menendez had a right to due process.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan said Menendez, 69, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash and gold bars in exchange for using his power and influence as New Jersey’s Senator to benefit the Government of Egypt and interfere with law enforcement probes into the businessmen.

Menendez has been an important ally to fellow Democrat Joe Biden as the President has sought to reassert U.S. influence on the world stage, rally support for congressional aid to Ukraine, and push back against a rising China.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, as well as several other Democratic State Officials and Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, called on Menendez to resign from the Senate.

“The alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our State,” Murphy, who would appoint a temporary replacement for Menendez should he go said in a statement.

However, Menendez said he had no plan to resign.

“It is not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a Latino and push him out of his seat. I am not going anywhere,” he said in a statement.

Prosecutors are seeking to have Menendez forfeit assets including his New Jersey home, a 2019 Mercedes-Benz convertible, and about $566,000 in cash, gold bars and funds from a bank account.

The indictment contained an image of gold bars investigators seized from Menendez’s home as well as envelopes stuffed with cash found inside jackets bearing Menendez’s name hanging in his closet. Prosecutors said they found more than $480,000 in cash in his home.

Damian Williams, the top Federal prosecutor in Manhattan, noted that Menendez’s website says that as a Senator he cannot compel an agency to act in someone’s favor or influence matters involving a private business.

“Behind the scenes, Senator Menendez was doing those things for certain people, the people that were bribing him and his wife,” Williams said.

He added that the investigation was ongoing.

Menendez said in a statement that prosecutors mischaracterized routine legislative work.

“The excesses of these prosecutors is apparent,” Menendez said.

“The facts are not as presented.”

A lawyer for Nadine Menendez, 56, who has been married to the senator since 2020, said she denied wrongdoing and would “vigorously defend” against the allegations in court.

The investigation marks the third time Menendez has been investigated by federal prosecutors, although he has never been convicted.

REUTERS