Menendez to address Democratic colleagues as calls to resign grow
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Sen. Bob Menendez. Photo: Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is expected to address his colleagues in Senate Democratic caucus on Thursday after pleading not guilty to explosive federal bribery charges.
Why it matters: The New Jersey senator faces enormous political pressure as more than half his fellow Senate Democrats have called for him to resign.
Driving the news: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) pre-empted questions about Menendez during a press conference on Wednesday, telling reporters "we will see what happens after" he speaks to the caucus.
- "I was just deeply disappointed, disturbed, when I read the indictment," Schumer said. "We all know that, for senators, there's a much, much higher standard ... Sen. Menendez fell way, way below that standard."
- The Democratic leader did not go as far as to call for Menendez to step down.
Yes, but: The walls are closing in on Menendez within his party, with multiple members of leadership calling for him to resign this week, including some who initially said the trial should be allowed to play out first.
- "Leaders in New Jersey ... have made it clear that Sen. Menendez can no longer serve. He should step down," Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Schumer's No. 2, said in a post on X.
- Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement on Wednesday: "I believe he should step down and focus on his legal defense."
What we're watching: Several senators have called for the Senate Ethics Committee to open an investigation into Menendez if he remains in Congress.
- "If Senator Menendez refuses to resign, I encourage the Senate Ethics Committee to open an investigation into this, separate from the ongoing criminal case," Murray said.
- The panel put out a statement citing the "long-standing policy of the Committee to yield investigation into matters where there is an active and ongoing criminal investigation or proceeding so as not to interfere in that process," but didn't explicitly rule out a probe.
