Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) will step aside from his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee after his indictment on bribery charges, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Friday, as New Jersey’s governor called for the long-serving lawmaker’s resignation.
“Bob Menendez has been a dedicated public servant and is always fighting hard for the people of New Jersey. He has a right to due process and a fair trial,” Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement. “Senator Menendez has rightly decided to step down temporarily from his position as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee until the matter has been resolved.”
The 69-year-old Menendez came out swinging in his first statement since the indictment was unsealed by Manhattan federal prosecutors, accusing his opponents of conspiring to “dig my political grave.”
“For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempted to silence my voice and dig my political grave,” said Menendez, who has repped the Garden State in the Senate since 2006.
“Since this investigation was leaked nearly a year ago, there has been an active smear campaign of anonymous sources and innuendos to create an air of impropriety where none exists.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy disagreed, saying in a statement that the claims were “deeply disturbing” and “serious charges that implicate national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system.
“Under our legal system, Senator Menendez and the other defendants have not been found guilty and will have the ability to present evidence disputing these charges, and we must respect the process,” Murphy added. “However, the alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state. Therefore, I am calling for his immediate resignation.” --->READ MORE HERE
The bombshell indictment accusing New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez of pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes portrays the veteran Democrat as a bumbling quasi-spy for the Egyptian government – who didn’t try too hard to cover his tracks.
The stunning court papers, unsealed in Manhattan federal court Friday, state that Menendez – who’s accused of trading political favors to help three New Jersey businessmen and the country of Egypt – even stuffed stacks of alleged ill-gotten cash in the pockets of official government jackets emblazoned with his name.
Menendez, who has represented the Garden State in Congress since 2006 and heads the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, denied the allegations in a lengthy statement, claiming he was the victim of “an active smear campaign.”
Here are just a handful of the bizarre and alarming acts that Menendez, 69, and his wife, Nadine, 56, are accused of, according to the indictment:
‘Congrats, mon amour’, wife texts him after receiving bribe of Mercedes-Benz
One day in April 2019, Menendez’ wife Nadine left him a voicemail that she was going to meet a former insurance agent from Union City, NJ., named Jose Uribe “for five minutes.”
Nadine ducked into the parking lot of a restaurant where Uribe, 56, handed her $15,000 in cash, court papers allege. --->READ MORE HEREFOLLOW LINKS BELOW TO RELEVAN/RELATED STORIES:
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