Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) won’t resign despite pressure from those in his own party.
Menendez and his wife face federal bribery charges:
From at least 2018 up to and including in or about 2022, MENENDEZ and his wife, NADINE MENENDEZ, a/k/a “Nadine Arslanian,” the defendant, engaged in a corrupt relationship with three New Jersey associates and businessmen—WAEL HANA, ida “Will Hana,” JOSE URIBE, and FRED DAIBES, the defendants—in which MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ agreed to and did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using MENENDEZ’s power and influence as a Senator to seek to protect and protect HANA, URIBE, and DAIBES and to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt. Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value.
The senator stepped down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee. But Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the move is “temporary” until everything gets resolved.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy called for Menendez’s resignation. Almost all of the state’s Democratic House delegation joined the governor. AOC said Menendez should resign. N
Menendez insists he didn’t do anything wrong:
MENENDEZ: “The court of public opinion is no substitute for our revered justice system. We cannot set aside the presumption of innocence for political expediency when the harm is irrevocable. To those who have rushed to judgment you have done so based on a limited set of facts framed by the prosecution to be as salacious as possible. Remember, prosecutors get it wrong sometimes.”
Menendez has every excuse in the book. He even used his family’s life in Cuba:
MENENDEZ: “Third, for 30 years, I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account, which I have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba. Now this may seem old fashioned, but these were monies drawn from my personal savings account based on the income that I have lawfully derived over those 30 years.”
Politically motivated:
MENENDEZ: “Instead of waiting for all the facts to be presented, others have rushed to judgment because they see a political opportunity for themselves or those around them.”
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