U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez is resigning from workplace Aug. 20 following his conviction for taking bribes for corrupt acts together with appearing as an agent of the Egyptian authorities.
Menendez had insisted after the July 16 verdict that he was harmless and promised to enchantment. Menendez’s lawyer hasn’t returned messages looking for remark.
His resignation letter was learn out loud on the Senate flooring on Tuesday.
The resignation provides New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, the power to nominate somebody to the senate for the rest of Menendez’s time period, which expires on Jan. 3. The seat was already up for election on Nov. 5. Democrats have nominated U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, who’s in a robust place within the Democratic-leaning state. He faces Republican Curtis Bashaw.
Menendez, 70, was convicted of costs that he bought the ability of his workplace to a few New Jersey businessmen who sought a wide range of favours. Prosecutors stated Menendez used his affect to meddle in three completely different state and federal felony investigations to guard his associates. They stated he helped one bribe-paying buddy get a multimillion-dollar cope with a Qatari funding fund and one other preserve a contract to supply spiritual certification for meat sure for Egypt.
Gold bars, money present in senator’s residence
He was additionally convicted of taking actions that benefited Egypt’s authorities in alternate for bribes, together with offering particulars on personnel on the U.S. embassy in Cairo, ghostwriting a letter to fellow senators relating to lifting a maintain on army support to Egypt. FBI brokers discovered stacks of gold bars and $480,000 in money hidden in Menendez’s home.
After his conviction, Menendez denied all of these allegations, saying “I’ve by no means been something however a patriot of my nation and for my nation. I’ve by no means, ever been a international agent.”
However quite a few fellow Democrats had urged him to resign, together with Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer. Murphy had urged the Senate to expel Menendez if he did not give up. Solely 15 senators have ever been expelled. Sen. William Blount, of Tennessee, was ousted in 1797 for treason. The opposite 14 have been expelled in 1861 and 1862 for supporting Confederates throughout the Civil Warfare.
Menendez faces the potential for many years in jail. A decide scheduled his sentencing for Oct. 29, every week earlier than the U.S. election.
Senator additionally indicted in 2015
His resignation bookends a profession spent in politics that began with him being elected to his native faculty board simply a few years after highschool commencement. He is held workplace at each stage in his residence state and had vowed to run as an unbiased in November for a fourth time period.
The son of Cuban immigrants and an lawyer by coaching, Menendez was a Union Metropolis, N.J., faculty board member at age 20 — earlier than graduating from regulation faculty — and later grew to become the mayor of town, the place he nonetheless has deep connections.
His personal biography says he wished to combat corruption early in his political profession, testifying in opposition to Union Metropolis officers and constructing a status as robust. From there, he was elected to the state Meeting, then the state Senate earlier than heading to the U.S. Home.
In mild of this responsible verdict, Senator Menendez should now do what is true for his constituents, the Senate, and our nation, and resign.
—@SenSchumer
He was appointed as a U.S. senator in 2006 when the seat opened up after incumbent Jon Corzine grew to become governor. He was elected outright in 2006 and once more in 2012 and 2018. He served as chair of the influential Senate International Relations Committee starting in 2013.
Menendez’s political profession seemed prefer it could be over in 2015, when he was indicted in New Jersey on costs that he had accepted bribes of luxurious abroad holidays, personal jet journey and marketing campaign contributions from a rich Florida eye physician, Salomon Melgen.
In return, prosecutors stated Menendez pressured authorities officers on Melgen’s behalf over an $8.9 million Medicare billing dispute and a stalled contract to supply port screening tools within the Dominican Republic. They stated he additionally helped acquire U.S. visas for the physician’s girlfriends.
The defence argued that the items weren’t bribes however tokens of friendship between two males who have been “like brothers.”
A jury could not attain a unanimous verdict, leading to a mistrial in 2017. U.S. prosecutors did not search a retrial.
New Jersey voters then returned Menendez to the Senate for one more time period. Melgen was convicted in a separate fraud trial, however his 17-year jail sentence was later commuted by then-president Donald Trump.
