Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday afternoon called on Senator Bob Menendez to resign after a jury convicted the New Jersey Senator on bribery, corruption and extortion charges.
In October Bob Menendez was charged with acting as a foreign agent in a superseding indictment.
The indictment filed by a federal grand jury in Manhattan claims Menendez “provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt.”
In January Menendez was hit with a second superseding indictment for praising Qatar in exchange for luxury watches.
In March Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine Menendez were charged with obstruction of justice in an 18-count indictment.
Special agents discovered $500,000 of cash stuffed into envelopes in closets. “Some of the cash was stuffed in the Senator’s jacket pockets. Menendez’s wife Nadine Menendez was given a “no-show” or “low-show” job, a Mercedes Benz and other things of value, US Attorney Damian Williams said last year.
A jury on Tuesday convicted Senator Bob Menendez on all bribery and corruption charges.
The jury returned the verdict following a 9-week trial. Menendez did not testify.
Schumer called on Menendez to resign after allowing him to attend classified briefings for the last several months even though he was charged with acting as a foreign agent.
“In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” Schumer said on X.
In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 16, 2024
“This case has always been about shocking levels of corruption, hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, a Mercedes Benz. This wasn’t politics as usual, this was politics for profit. And now that a jury has convicted Bob Menendez, his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end,” US Attorney Damian Williams said outside the courthouse in Manhattan on Tuesday.
WATCH:
BREAKING – BATTLE FOR THE SENATE: Prosecutors Say They Uncovered “Shocking Levels of Corruption” As Senator Menendez Convicted of Bribery and National Security Offenses. He’s Running As An Independent and May Take Votes From Democrats. You May Not Be Paying Attention. pic.twitter.com/gGzi7SMStS
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) July 16, 2024
Menendez’s wife will go on trial some time next year after she finishes up her cancer treatments.
