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Bob Menendez

Growing Chorus Of Democratic Senators Demands Menendez Resignation

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) is losing support as more of his Senate Democratic colleagues formally call on him to resign after he was indicted again, this time on federal bribery charges that included allegations of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold bars.

As of Tuesday morning, at least ten Democratic U.S. Senators have now called on the twice-indicted senior Democratic Senator from New Jersey to resign, as they cite the gravity of the charges against him.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the first to call on Menendez to resign, on Monday. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Peter Welch (D-VT) followed later that day.

On Tuesday morning, Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), John Tester (D-MT), and Bob Casey (D-PA) all called on Sen. Menendez to resign. By 11 AM, Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) also called for him to resign.

Minutes later, Sen. Cory Booker, Menendez’s Democratic New Jersey colleague, also called for him to resign. The New York Times reported Booker’s decision “to condemn Senator Robert Menendez underscores the deepening crisis Mr. Menendez faces after his indictment.”

According to the Department of Justice, Menendez, along with his wife Nadine Menendez, not only are alleged to have received bribes, he is charged with doing so in a scheme “to use his official position to protect and enrich” those he allegedly accepted funds from, and “to benefit the Government of Egypt.”

“Among other things,” the DOJ alleged, Senator Menendez “agreed and sought to pressure a senior official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in an effort to protect a business monopoly granted to” a New Jersey businessman “by Egypt, disrupt a criminal case undertaken by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office related to associates of” another New Jersey businessman, “and disrupt a federal criminal prosecution brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey against” a third New Jersey businessman.

Former DOD Special Counsel Ryan Goodman on Sunday called Menendez “a walking national security threat.”

“Imagine US official charged with selling US secrets, embassy security, US defense policy – and showing up for work the next day,” he added.

“From a purely legal perspective, Menendez appears to be a dead man walking,” Goodman continued. “The kind of forensic and documentary evidence in the Indictment is exceptionally strong for these types of cases. It looks inevitable that he will be going to prison.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Bob Menendez

Menendez Indictment Highlights Contrasting Partisan Reactions To Corruption

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey isn't backing down as he faces a lurid set of corruption charges—complete with gold bars and stacks of cash—and many prominent Democrats have had nothing to say. That silence is troubling, but it’s also a departure from the previous time Menendez was indicted, when Democrats rallied around him. But Friday evening, the dam may have started to burst, with New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and the speaker of the state Assembly calling on Menendez to resign, along with Rep. Mikie Sherill (D-NJ).

Even with silence from Senate Democrats thus far, the difference between the Democratic response to Menendez’s indictment and the Republican response to Donald Trump’s indictments—or, for that matter, to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ raging corruption—is not hard to see.

For one thing, few high-ranking Democratic officials are rushing to call on Menendez to resign, but neither are they in front of cameras swearing to investigate the prosecutors who indicted him or ranting about political prosecutions. And as the hours passed, a few Democrats began to speak out. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) was the first member of Congress to call for Menendez to resign. (Then again, Phillips has called for a primary challenge to President Joe Biden, so whatever.)

“As both a leader in the Democratic Party & the former Attorney General and given the nature of the charges, I call upon Senator Menendez to resign,” tweeted former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. “The nation will be better served if he steps aside and allows a transition to occur that will best serve the people of New Jersey.”

But a bigger difference is visible if you compare the responses of liberal commentators to the immediate Republican rush to defend Trump:



As for the Republican response to the Menendez charges …

Republican voters have largely shrugged off Trump’s indictments, except for the loyalists who’ve made posturing threats of violence in response. Republican commentators have largely defended him, as have Republican lawmakers. It’s important that Democrats do better. So far, the signs are good, but we need more from our leaders.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Senate Nearing Bipartisan Agreement To Sanction Russia

Senate Nearing Bipartisan Agreement To Sanction Russia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators are very close to reaching a deal on legislation to sanction Russia over its actions on Ukraine, the two senators working on the bill said on Sunday.

Senators Bob Menendez and James Risch, the chairman and top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said they were going to move forward on the bill this week.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Democratic Senator Menendez Announces Opposition To Iran Deal

Democratic Senator Menendez Announces Opposition To Iran Deal

By Sebastien Malo

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (Reuters) — Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, in a scathing critique of the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration and other major powers, announced on Tuesday that he will vote to kill the pact.

Speaking in his home state of New Jersey, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee detailed his opposition: “I will vote to disapprove the agreement and, if called upon, would vote to override a veto” by President Barack Obama, a fellow Democrat.

The Senate and House of Representatives are expected to vote sometime in September on legislation rejecting the deal with Tehran that would impose new curbs on Iran’s nuclear program while lifting economic sanctions on the country. Obama faces a tough fight in Congress defending the deal, which is also opposed by most Republicans.

With his announcement, Menendez became the second high-profile Senate Democrat to announce opposition to the Iran deal.

Earlier this month, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Democrat in the chamber, said he would vote against it and try to convince other senators to do the same.

Indicative of an intra-party split, Senator Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat, has come out in favor of the deal, while Democratic Leader Harry Reid is set declare his position when the Senate returns from recess Sept. 7.

The lobbying and debate in Congress over the deal is expected to become fierce when lawmakers return from its five-week summer break.

If the agreement were to go into effect, Menendez said, it would hurt national security while abandoning a long-held U.S. policy of preventing nuclear proliferation. Instead, he said, it would establish a policy of “managing” nuclear proliferation.

Despite his stance against the Iran deal, it is not clear how much his decision will influence other Democrats.

Menendez stepped down as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April amid an indictment on corruption charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

(Writing by Richard Cowan; Editing by Lisa Lambert and Susan Heavey)

Photo: Senator Bob Menendez speaks at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey August 18, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid