After Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N. J. ) was found guilty this week on 16 national corruption charges in his case, according to a report that suggested the Democratic senator might withdraw from office before the end of his term in January.
According to NBC News, two sources with knowledge of the senator’s conversations with his supporters following the conviction ‘ ruling indicated that the New Jersey Democrat would step down from the chamber.
According to The Post Millennial, Menendez was found guilty of 16 national counts, including acting as a foreign agent, corruption, obstruction of justice, and bribery. The legislator and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, were initially indicted last September on fraud claims.
The legislator and his wife were accused of accepting money from Jose Uribe, Wael Hana, and Fred Daibes, three regional business partners, and for accepting money from Egypt. According to the Department of Justice, the two “agreed to and did take hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using Menendez’s power and influence as a Senator to seek to protect and expand Hana, Uribe, and Daibes, and to gain the Egyptian Republic of Egypt.”
Learn MORE: Democrat senator indicted on corruption, crime
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N. ) is following the corruption trial. Y. ), Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill. ), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N. J. ) called on Menendez to retire from his place in the Senate, according to The Post Millennial.
” In light of this criminal conviction, Senator Menendez must then do what is best for his components, the Senate, and our land, and retire”, Schumer stated.
The Democrat lawmaker has denied speaking to” therefore called friends” about his upcoming plans, despite the NBC News report that Menendez is planning to retire in light of the federal bribery faith.
Menendez told Christine Sloan, a CBS New York writer, on Wednesday,” I can tell you that I have no resigned nor have I spoken to any so called friends… Seems to be an effort to try to push me into a speech.” Anyone who has met me is aware that is the worst way to accomplish a purpose with me.
According to The Post Millennial, if Menendez resigned, Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N. J. ) would be in charge of appointing people to serve the majority of Menendez’s phrase, which expires in January. According to the report, Murphy was one of the first Democrats to call on the legislator to step down in light of the fraud test.
The Post Millennial reported that Rep. Andy Kim (D-N. J. ) and Republican nominee Curtis Bashaw will square off in the November vote to decide who did succeed Menendez for the upcoming Congress.
