Menendez Resigns from Senate Effective Aug. 20 After Conviction

Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey resigned effective Aug. 20, giving in to fellow Democrats’ demands he step down following his conviction on federal corruption charges in New York last week.

Menendez’s political support collapsed after a jury found that he had received bribes of gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and a Mercedes convertible in return for official favors extended to three businessmen and on behalf of Egyptian interests.

His wife, Nadine, was also charged but has not yet been tried.

Senator Robert Menendez exits federal court in New York on July 16, 2024 after being found guilty.

Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg

Menendez, 70, said in his resignation letter Tuesday that he would appeal the verdict but did not want to involve the Senate “in a lengthy process that will detract from its important work.” He said he was delaying his departure until next month so his staff could find new jobs and he could “close out my Senate affairs.”

Before the trial, he gave up his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy called on Menendez to resign almost immediately after the jury delivered its verdict. Murphy has authority to name a replacement to serve until Jan. 3, when the senator’s current term ends.

“I will exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to the United States Senate to ensure the people of New Jersey have the representation they deserve,” Murphy said in a Tuesday statement.

Menendez’s position became untenable in part because a key Democratic election strategy is to attack former President Donald Trump on his 34 felony convictions.

The New Jersey Globe reported Menendez’s plan to resign earlier on Tuesday.

Earlier: Bob Menendez Convicted of Bribery, Foreign-Agent Charges

Representative Andy Kim is running as the Democratic nominee to replace Menendez in the November election. Kim said in a statement Menendez “made the right decision” to quit the Senate.

John Fetterman of Pennsylvania became the first senator to call on Menendez to resign when he was charged, followed by Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the chairman of the Banking Committee, where Menendez has served as a senior member.

Menendez easily won reelection in 2018 after a separate 2017 corruption trial ended in a hung jury and the Justice Department dropped the charges. The Senate Ethics Committee, however, admonished him for his relationship with Salomon Melgen, an eye doctor.

The committee found that Menendez received numerous gifts without disclosing them while advocating for Melgen. Melgen was convicted of stealing $42 million from Medicare. His 17-year sentence was commuted in January 2021 by Trump in one of his last acts in office. Menendez supported the commutation.

In 2006, Menendez, then a member of the US House, was appointed to the Senate by Governor Jon Corzine, who had given up his Senate seat.

Earlier: Schumer Calls on Menendez to Resign After Corruption Conviction

He won election later that year, was an advocate for the Latino community and immigration reform domestically, while becoming a hawk on foreign policy. He was especially firm against Iran and Cuba, which his parents had left a few months before he was born in New York City.

He had served in 2010 as the chair of the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee, but cultivated relationships on both sides of the aisle. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, served as a character witness at his first corruption trial.

--With assistance from Laura Nahmias, Erik Wasson and Zach C. Cohen.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Jonathan Tamari in Arlington at jtamari@bloomberg.net;
Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Megan Scully at mscully32@bloomberg.net

Mike Dorning

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