Democratic Senator Robert Menendez has announced his resignation next month after being found guilty on all 16 counts in a federal bribery and corruption trial. His resignation is set for August 20th, and he has informed some of his staff and submitted a letter of resignation.
Menendez had been convicted by a jury of accepting bribes, including gold bars and cash, for official actions to benefit Qatar and Egypt. His sentencing is scheduled for October 29th, but he has vowed to appeal the decision.
Several Democratic senators and key elected officials in New Jersey had called for Menendez’s resignation, with some threatening to force a vote to expel him from the Senate if he did not step down voluntarily. Menendez is also under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, which has initiated an “adjudicatory review” as a required step before making a recommendation on disciplinary actions.
Congressman Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, is running for Menendez’s seat in November against Republican Curtis Bashaw. Menendez had filed to run for re-election as an independent, stating he would continue the campaign if exonerated.
Menendez’s political career includes serving as mayor of Union City, New Jersey, and in the state legislature before being elected to Congress in 1992. He became a senator in 2006 and rose to become chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, where he was found to have provided favors to foreign governments in exchange for bribes according to jurors. He was also charged in a separate corruption case that ended in mistrial in 2018, which he denied any wrongdoing in as well.
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