Menendez Plans to Resign From Senate After Corruption Conviction

(Bloomberg) — Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey has told staff that he intends to resign after a chorus of fellow Democrats demanded he step down following his conviction on federal corruption charges in New York last week, according to people familiar with his plan.

Menendez intends to resign effective Aug. 20, the people said.

Menendez’s political support collapsed after a jury found that he had received bribes of gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and a Mercedes convertible in return for official favors extended to three businessmen and on behalf of Egyptian interests. 

Menendez, 70, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has vowed to appeal. Before the trial, he gave up his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

His wife, Nadine, was also charged but has not yet been tried.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy called on Menendez to resign almost immediately after the jury delivered its verdict. Murphy would name a replacement to serve until Jan. 3, when the senator’s current term ends.

The senator’s position became untenable in part because a key Democratic election strategy is to attack former President Donald Trump on his 34 felony convictions. 

Earlier: Bob Menendez Convicted of Bribery, Foreign-Agent Charges 

Representative Andy Kim is running as the Democratic nominee to replace Menendez in the November election. Menendez had threatened to mount an independent campaign for reelection.

John Fetterman of Pennsylvania became the first senator to call on Menendez to resign when he was charged, followed by Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the chairman of the Banking Committee, where Menendez has served as a senior member. 

Menendez easily won reelection in 2018 after a separate 2017 corruption trial ended in a hung jury and the Justice Department dropped the charges. The Senate Ethics Committee, however, admonished him for his relationship with Salomon Melgen, an eye doctor. 

The committee found that Menendez received numerous gifts without disclosing them while advocating for Melgen. Melgen was convicted of stealing $42 million from Medicare. His 17-year sentence was commuted in January 2021 by Trump in one of his last acts in office. Menendez supported the commutation.

In 2006, Menendez, then a member of the US House, was appointed to the Senate by Governor Jon Corzine, who had given up his Senate seat. 

Earlier: Schumer Calls on Menendez to Resign After Corruption Conviction 

He won election later that year, was an advocate for the Latino community and immigration reform domestically, while becoming a hawk on foreign policy. He was especially firm against Iran and Cuba, which his parents had left a few months before he was born in New York City. 

He had served in 2010 as the chair of the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee, but cultivated relationships on both sides of the aisle. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, served as a character witness at his first corruption trial.

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