New York: Pressure has been mounting on influential Democratic Senator Bob Menendez to step down following his conviction this week on all 16 criminal counts he faced including bribery at his federal trial in Manhattan.
In a swift move after the verdict, senior Democrats including US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and fellow New Jersey Senator Cory Booker called on Menendez, who has served in the Senate since 2006, to resign from the chamber. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who would name Menendez's replacement, said that the Senate should expel him if he refused to step down.
Further, an AP report said that Democratic Senators Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jon Tester of Montana and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, have indicated their support for expulsion.
With the New Jersey Democrat having just six months remaining in his term, he told CBS News that there are no plans to resign after being convicted, leaving Democratic senators contemplating an expulsion, which requires a two-thirds majority, and is a rare move in the Senate.
"I can tell you that I have not resigned nor have I spoken to any so called allies ... Seems to me that there is an effort to try to force me into a statement. Anyone who knows me knows that's the worst way to achieve a goal with me," Menendez, who reportedly plans to run for re-election as an independent, told CBS.
According to prosecutors, Menendez and his wife took hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and car and mortgage payments from three businessmen who wanted his help. They said the US Senator met with Egyptian intelligence officials and had tried to speed up millions of dollars of military aid to that country.
| In another corruption case involving a member of Congress, Democratic Party Representative Henry Cuellar and his wife have been charged by the Justice Department in Texas with bribery and money laundering involving a Mexican bank and an Azerbaijan-controlled oil and gas company. |
