If this were a movie script, you’d have a hard time believing it. U.S. Senator Bob Menendez was charged on Friday with secretly helping the Egyptian government and trying to stop the criminal prosecution of a friend in exchange for gold bars, a luxury car and cash.
The proof? An FBI raid last year of Menendez’s home, which found over $100,000 in gold and more than half a million dollars in cash. The money was stuffed into suit jacket pockets, closets, envelopes and a safe. Nothing to see here. Doesn’t everyone keep their gold bars at home?
The federal indictment makes the New Jersey Democrat the first senator to ever be indicted on two separate criminal charges while in office, according to the Senate Historical Office. And while Menendez got off with a hung jury in 2017, New Jersey deserves much better this time around. Menendez needs to go, and now.
PHIL MURPHY, the Democratic governor of New Jersey, called on Menendez to resign Friday, saying the charges were “so serious that they compromise” Menendez’s ability to do his job. A chorus of New Jersey politicians — not exactly choirboys themselves — joined Murphy. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) have also said it’s time for Menendez to step aside. Biden, to his credit, has said nothing. That’s a wise move; a president shouldn’t comment on his administration’s ongoing investigations.
WHO’S on the sidelines? Look to the Senate, and first to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who said Menendez will step down as chairman of the Foreign Relations panel until “the matter has been resolved.”
More like “until this unfortunate story is out of the headlines.” Schumer knows the case will take months, maybe years to wind its way through the courts. Last time — remember, Menendez has done all this before — the trial took two years to conclude. Things will quiet down soon, and we can all go back to normal.
THAT doesn’t cut it. The allegations against Menendez are serious. Imagine the Americans who, absorbed with work and family, tune in to the national news only to hear about a senator working deals for a Mercedes-Benz convertible. It’s enough to make anyone think Washington is a den of thieves.
For the good of the Senate, Menendez needs to resign. His colleagues there need to be pushing him to do so.
— Tim Stauffer
