The orders are like a snowball. As of Tuesday morning, only three Senate Democrats had called on Menéndez to resign, and by the end of the day there were about 20.
The politician, who was indicted along with his wife Nadine Menendez by a New York grand jury on charges of accepting bribes, defiantly told reporters on Monday: “I will be exonerated and remain New Jersey’s senior senator.”
Menéndez tried to cover up some “small things” found in his home during the investigation, such as gold bars and bags of money, which he said were part of his assets.
The name of the lawmaker, chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is a front page story and “news in development” in the United States media.
The day before, Senator Cory Booker, also of New Jersey, broke his silence on Tuesday, calling on him to resign from office because he would be making a “mistake” if he didn’t, and declaring that the charges against his Colleagues are “difficult to solve” Make up with the person I know.”
Booker, who called the allegations “shocking,” took an important step since he was a key ally of Menéndez and even vocally defended him after his indictment on corruption charges in 2015, which was eventually dropped in 2018.
“Yes,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts) told The Boston Globe when asked about Menéndez’s case and whether he should resign.
“These are serious allegations and it is time for Senator Menendez to step down from the Senate and focus on his legal defense,” Warren said.
But Senate Democratic leadership still has reservations about the muddy member of the blue bench (the color that identifies the party).
However, Debbie Stabenow (Michigan), the third Democrat in the Senate, was the group’s highest-ranking member calling for her resignation because “the allegations against Senator Bob Menéndez are very disturbing.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Senate Campaign Committee Chairman Gary Peters (Michigan) argued that New Jersey lawmakers had “undermined public trust.”
However, Menéndez continues to show little sign of being ready to leave his seat, bluntly saying at the Capitol yesterday: “I’m innocent, what’s wrong with you?”
The 69-year-old senator of Cuban origin had to temporarily resign from his post as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee because one of the rules of the Senate Democratic Conference stipulates that members who hold leadership positions or chair committees must resign if they are accused of a serious crime.
Let’s see how much will happen. The current indictment, part of a years-long public corruption investigation by the Justice Department, ties him to allegations of bribery, fraud and extortion in connection with three New Jersey businessmen.
Federal agents found more than $480,000 in cash during a search of the couple’s home in June 2022, “much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe,” and more than $70,000 in a security box belonging to Nadine Menéndez, as and gold bars worth more than $100,000, the indictment says.
Bob Menéndez, considered “the most Republican of all Democrats,” was distinguished by his hostility toward Cuba (the country where his parents were born) and, along with another group of anti-Cuban congressmen, served as the architect of the attempt this to prevent any change in the policy of the United States Government towards the island.
Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the panel, was named his interim replacement on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
In 2015, Cardin supported the Barack Obama administration’s decision to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, a recommendation he described as an important step in both countries’ efforts at the time to normalize relations.
yes/dfm