Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he was “disappointed” in Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) after the senator and his wife were charged with new obstruction allegations and charges in a superseding indictment Tuesday but did not call on him to resign or give up any privileges on critical Senate panels.
“The Senate has certain standards that we must live up to, and I’m very disappointed that Sen. Menendez has not lived up to those standards,” Schumer said, responding to a question during a weekly press conference on Wednesday about whether Menendez should resign from his seat.
When pressed again about whether the New Jersey Senator should retain all his privileges as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Schumer sidestepped repeated questions by repeating his prior answer.
“As I’ve said, the Senate has standards. We should all be living up to those standards. I’m deeply disappointed Sen. Menendez has not,” Schumer said again.
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The latest charge is part of a far-reaching corruption case focused on whether Menendez used his influence as New Jersey’s senior senator to enrich himself and his wife. Earlier this week, New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe pleaded guilty to bribing the senator’s wife in exchange for his intervention in a state insurance fraud investigation.
The Justice Department first charged Menendez in September, accusing him of benefitting the governments of Egypt and then Qatar in his capacity as a senator. Until the indictment, Menendez served as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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Menendez has pushed back against the allegations against him on the Senate floor in January, calling them “sensationalized.”
“The sensationalized allegations are now creating a rising call for my resignation despite my innocence and before a single piece of evidence has even been introduced in a court of law,” he said.
“The United States Attorney’s Office has engaged not in a prosecution, but a persecution,” he added. “They seek a victory, not justice. I have received nothing, absolutely nothing from the government of Qatar, or on behalf of the government of Qatar.”
