New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and other top Garden State Democrats are calling on Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez to resign – a sign of how quickly the senator’s political support may erode after Friday’s shocking indictment on federal bribery charges.
“The alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state,” Murphy, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Murphy would appoint a senator to replace Menendez should he resign. Menendez is up for reelection in 2024.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes,” including gold, cash and a luxury vehicle in exchange for the senator’s influence.
If he was Republican they’d be sending him donations to fight the “woke mob” deep state
Probably what he could do. Just switch parties become a Republican say the woke mob is after him and Republicans will vote in droves for him. Plus give Republicans the majority.
Best just to out him in 2024 regardless if he can be convicted our not. He will not resign lets just hope he don’t go traitor too.
The Senate can expel him with a 2/3 vote. Which they should do.
I haven’t looked too hard into this, but I hope there’s either some very substantial evidence or something that precludes his guilt. I don’t want to see another incident like Al Franken, where the Democratic party crucifies one of their members for something extremely minor just to try and show they’re morally superior to Republicans.
All that did was cost us a good senator. When the dust settled, people either didn’t care/notice at all, or they thought the Dems went too far.
This is his second indictment for corruption/bribery. I 100% agree with you on Franken but Menendez should have been out the first time. He’s corrupt.
Plus, they found tons of cash stuffed in envelopes and other places along with gold bars and the like. There’s physical evidence - not just “he said she said.” (Which should definitely be considered when it comes to allegations, but physical evidence weighs heavier than allegations without physical evidence.)
I read the indictment. They have text messages, they found envelopes with the DNA of one of the bribers in his house.
He Googled “how much does a kilo of gold cost” before accepting a bar of gold (whose serial number linked it to another briber), then phoned a state investigative agency to try to get a case dismissed, after which he went to have a celebratory dinner with the bribers (photo of them toasting each other with champagne).
He emailed an Egyptian national the breakdown of the US embassy staff in Cairo, and used his hold power over military exports to extract bribes.
They tried to delete these texts and emails. It goes on and on.
MAYBE it’s not technically illegal somehow or Clarence Thomas will spring him, but he absolutely does not belong in the Senate. This is not one photo, this is a very solid case of abuse of position and Chuck Schumer defending him is pathetic.
If you’re in the US, Call your Senators (particularly the Ds) and tell em to put it up for an expulsion vote. He’s gotta go. Now.
On the other hand, I think it’s noteworthy that “Senior Government Official Caught Accepting Gold Bars to Affect Policy Towards Egypt” could have been a news item, unchanged, 4000 years ago in Babylon. So that’s something.
This is a pattern of behavior and not the first time he was exposed.
You should read more about this.
I realize this is a high bar these days, but if a senator can be bought, they shouldn’t be in the senate. And that should be a low bar.
Vast majority of Washington politicians are corrupt, this idiot just had to flaunt his corruption with gold bars and is now paying the price…
Yes, the entire system is corrupt and lots of politicians behave in a manner that makes me furious that their actions are actually totally legal within this system. This guy, however, is pathological. He was somehow cleared of federal corruption charges just a couple of years ago.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“The alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state,” Murphy, a Democrat, said in a statement.
And the senator was defiant against the charges in a statement, calling the investigation “an active smear campaign of anonymous sources and innuendos to create an air of impropriety where none exists.”
“The charges laid out against Senator Menendez today go against everything we should believe as public servants,” New Jersey General Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin said in a statement.
In separate statements, Democratic Reps. Andy Kim, Josh Gottheimer, Bill Pascrell and Donald Norcross also called for the senator to resign, saying the seriousness of the charges will make it difficult for him to serve the state.
“I have unwavering confidence in my father and his dedication to the New Jerseyans who he has relentlessly fought for in his long career as a public servant,” said Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat.
In 2015, he was charged with conspiracy, bribery and honest services fraud relating to allegedly abusing the power of his office as part of a relationship with a wealthy ophthalmologist.
The original article contains 1,092 words, the summary contains 191 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
If somebody resigns it should trigger a snap election, not an appointment…
When elections are every couple of years, it’s easier to appoint someone in the interim instead of the logistics of having a new election for one individual seat.
Counter-point: elections shouldn’t be so complicated that you can’t perform a snap election on short notice. Other countries do it.
Do you have any idea just how much goes into an election? Those other countries also don’t have the population we do. The candidates need time to make their case and if the next election cycle is only a few months out then there is no reason to not wait. Plenty of seats go empty, not all seats need filled asap.
“yeah but think of how much WORK that would be…”
You aren’t wrong, I’m just saying it’s a bad argument for those in charge.
It’s not about work for the ones in charge. There is more to an election like giving the candidates time to make their case for being elected. When another full election is right around the corner it makes way more sense to wait. Depending on the seat and what that person does, we may not even need someone appointed, plenty of seats go empty for long lengths of time.
I do see where you’re coming from, and to an extent I agree with you. Why bother with an election when the next one is 6 months away.
But when it’s several YEARS, it becomes an issue. A lot can happen in 30 seconds, let alone a year or more.
In that case, it makes sense to require them to put any appointed positions up for election at the next regularly scheduled election. There’s an election every two years at most. Many states have elections every year.
More like how expensive that is. Seems like a waste of money when the next election is often months away. And will happen either way.
I think a lot of countries with snap elections don’t just do it for a single position, and it resets the whole parliamentary term.
