New Jersey Democrat faces decades in prison following his conviction for taking bribes and acting as an agent for Egypt’s government.
United States Senator Bob Menendez has announced that he will resign next month following his conviction on corruption charges, including bribery and acting as an agent for Egypt’s government.
The decision on Tuesday came as Menendez’s fellow Democrats piled pressure on him to step down or face becoming the first politician to be expelled from the Senate since 1862.
“I will be resigning from my office as the United States Senator from New Jersey, effective on the close of business on Aug. 20, 2024,” Menendez’s letter said.
“While I fully intend to appeal the jury’s verdict, all the way and including to the Supreme Court, I do not want the Senate to be involved in a lengthy process that will detract from its important work,” the letter added.
Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will appoint a replacement for Menendez, who has represented New Jersey in the Senate since 2006 and served as chairman of the influential Foreign Relations Committee before giving up that post after being charged last year.
Menendez’s current six-year term ends on January 3.
Murphy said in a statement he had received the letter but did not provide details on when he would finalise a decision for naming Menendez’s temporary replacement.
Bribery schemes
Menendez, 70, was found guilty on July 16 by a jury in a Manhattan federal court on all 16 criminal counts he faced – also including obstruction of justice, wire fraud and extortion – after a nine-week trial. Two co-defendants also were convicted.
The case centred on what prosecutors called bribery schemes in which the senator and his wife Nadine Menendez accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and car and mortgage payments from three businessmen. In exchange, Menendez steered billions of dollars in US aid to Egypt and tried to influence the criminal prosecutions of two of the businessmen, prosecutors said.
Menendez, who plans to appeal, faces decades in prison.
US District Judge Sidney Stein has set the politician’s sentencing for October 29, a week before the November 5 election.
The Senate received a copy of Menendez’s resignation letter, according to Senator Peter Welch of Vermont, who was presiding in the chamber on Tuesday.
Menendez’s resignation will temporarily reduce the Democratic majority in the Senate to 50-49 until Murphy’s appointee is sworn in to finish what remains of Menendez’s term.
Democratic US Representative Andy Kim is running for the seat in November and is favoured to win in Democratic-leaning New Jersey.
Numerous Democrats had called for Menendez to resign, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Cory Booker, New Jersey’s other senator. Murphy, the New Jersey governor, had urged the Senate to expel Menendez if he did not quit.
The trial was Menendez’s second after a 2017 trial ended when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. Menendez was then censured by the Senate ethics committee for accepting gifts from a wealthy longtime friend in exchange for official favours.
Menendez was first appointed to his Senate seat in 2006 after serving 13 years in the US House of Representatives. He then won election three times to the Senate.
He earlier served in the New Jersey legislature and as a mayor.
For decades, he has been a forceful voice on US foreign relations, most recently advocating for additional aid to Ukraine and Israel as Democratic President Joe Biden pushed Congress to allocate more money to foreign allies embroiled in conflicts.
US Representative Rob Menendez, the senator’s son, continues to represent a New Jersey congressional district across the Hudson River from New York City, similar to the district his father previously represented.