Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez tells allies he'll resign after bribery conviction

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., has advised allies that he’ll resign from Congress after being convicted on federal corruption charges, two individuals instantly acquainted with these conversations inform NBC Information.

Menendez, who had been defiant for months within the face of calls from dozens of Senate Democrats to resign, seems to have lastly relented after the responsible verdict and growing threats to expel him if he refused. He’s calling allies to inform them of his intention to resign, these sources stated, which might finish a three-decade profession in Congress that included a robust committee chairmanship, writing main laws and two felony trials over allegations of corruption.

Amongst those that urged him to resign had been Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ailing.; and Menendez’s buddy and fellow New Jersey Democratic senator, Cory Booker.

“In mild of this responsible verdict, Senator Menendez should now do what is true for his constituents, the Senate, and our nation, and resign,” Schumer stated in a press release after Menendez’s newest corruption trial led to responsible verdicts.

Menendez didn’t reply to requests for remark. After this story was revealed, he advised CBS New York that he had not already resigned, “nor have I spoken to any so referred to as allies.”

The senator was convicted Tuesday on 16 federal counts associated to utilizing the facility of his official place to complement three New Jersey businessmen and profit the Egyptian and Qatari governments. In change, the couple acquired lavish bribes, together with “money, gold bars, funds towards a house mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxurious automobile and different objects of worth,” prosecutors stated.

If Menendez does step down, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who was among the first Democrats to name for Menendez to give up, will appoint a senator to quickly end out his time period, which ends in January 2025.

Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and Republican Curtis Bashaw are operating within the November basic election to take Menendez’s Senate seat. Menendez had filed to run for the seat as an impartial and stated he would proceed the marketing campaign if exonerated.

Menendez’s political profession dates again practically 4 many years to the mid-Eighties, when he grew to become mayor of Union Metropolis. He ultimately served for 13 years within the Home earlier than ascending to the Senate in 2006. He had two stints as chairman of the Senate International Relations Committee, a put up he relinquished final yr after his indictment. However he remained a voting member of the panel and within the full Senate, even whereas he was accused of abusing his energy to learn overseas governments.

Menendez and his spouse, Nadine, had been charged in September with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit sincere companies fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion beneath shade of official proper, in response to the initial indictment in opposition to him.

Weeks later, he was charged in a superseding indictment with accepting bribes from a overseas authorities and conspiring to behave as a overseas agent. Menendez “supplied delicate U.S. Authorities info and took different steps that secretly aided the Authorities of Egypt,” the indictment alleged.

Menendez denied the allegations in opposition to him, arguing in a press release that he was going through “an energetic smear marketing campaign” and that prosecutors “misrepresented the traditional work of a Congressional workplace.” He has since stated he’ll attraction his conviction.

In public remarks in September, he stated the $480,000 in money investigators had discovered squirreled away in envelopes hidden round his home was cash he’d saved over many years for use “for emergencies.”

In 2015, Menendez was additionally indicted on federal corruption charges stemming from allegations that he accepted favors from a rich Florida optometrist, together with journey, lodging and political contributions. The case led to a mistrial after jurors couldn’t attain a unanimous verdict. Prosecutors in 2018 opted not to retry Menendez after the decide overseeing the case tossed out a number of the authentic counts.

Menendez is the primary sitting senator in U.S. historical past to be indicted on two unrelated felony allegations, in response to knowledge compiled by the Senate Historic Workplace.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez was one of many Senate’s most distinguished advocates for overhauling the immigration system and co-authored the “Gang of 8” invoice in 2013, a bipartisan immigration overhaul that handed the Senate and died within the Home. Final yr, he introduced a framework to reform immigration applications that included creating new pathways to citizenship amid ongoing issues about the number of migrant crossings alongside the southern border.

In different potential implications for Menendez, the Senate final yr unanimously passed a invoice referred to as the No CORRUPTION Act, written by Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., that may bar members of Congress convicted of felonies from gathering pensions. The laws would nonetheless must go the Home.

In pushing out Menendez, Democrats see a possibility to drive a distinction amongst voters, presenting themselves because the occasion that doesn’t assist convicted felons serving in excessive workplace on the week that the GOP nominates Donald Trump for president.

“Senator Menendez has undermined the general public’s religion and is now not in a position to serve successfully within the U.S. Senate,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the chair of the Democratic Senate marketing campaign arm, stated in a press release. “I hope it doesn’t come to this, but when he refuses to do the fitting factor and resign instantly, I assist the Senate taking motion to take away him from his place.”