New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez (D) entered a ‘Not Guilty’ plea Wednesday morning on bribery and extortion charges stemming from his relationship with three New Jersey businesspeople, Politico reports.
The Garden State Senator is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes —including gold bars. Laemakers on both sides of the aisle are calling for his resignation.
“Stepping down is not an admission of guilt but an acknowledgment that holding public office often demands tremendous sacrifices at great personal cost. Senator Menendez has made these sacrifices in the past to serve. And in this case he must do so again. I believe stepping down is best for those Senator Menendez has spent his life serving,” fellow NY Senator Cory Booker said in a statement.
“Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio — chairman of the Banking Committee, where Menendez chairs a subcommittee — and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont called on Menendez to leave Congress. Over the weekend, Sen. John Fetterman of neighboring Pennsylvania became the first Senate Democrat to say he should resign,” NBC News reports.
“It’d probably be a good idea if he did resign,” Pelosi, the former House speaker, said on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” calling the charges “formidable.”
Menendez is imploring his colleagues to wait for the evidence to come out.
“I recognize this will be the biggest fight yet, but as I have stated throughout this whole process, I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be New Jersey’s senior senator,” Menendez said at Hudson County Community College’s campus in Union City, where he grew up.
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