Booker calls for resignation

Say's 'sacrifices' from Menendez are best way to serve his constituents

By: Ashley Balcerzak
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... After four days of silence since senator Bob Menendez was indicted, Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J., called Tuesday [09/26/2023] for his colleague to resign, the latest member of the New Jersey confessional delegation to weigh in on stunning charges that accuse the senior senator of being part of a bribery scheme in exchange for assistance to the Egyptian government and disrupting criminal investigation.
..... "Senator Menendez fiercely asserts his innocence and it is therefore understandable that he believes stepping down is patently unfair," Booker said in a statement. "But I believe this is a mistake.
..... "Stepping down is not an admission of guilt but an acknowledgment that holding public office often demands tremendous sacrifices at great personal cost. Senator Menendez has made these sacrifices in the past to serve. And in this case he must do so again. I believe stepping down is best for those Senator Menendez has spent his life serving."
..... Booker stood by Menendez when he was indicted in 2015, telling HuffPost, "Bob is my friend. there's no senator I've worked more closely with. He is an extraordinary senator. I've seen him in the most intimate moments and didn't see a hint of corruption. I will stand by Bob Menendez."
..... Menendez denies the new charges, saying Monday [09/25/2023] that the "allegations leveled against me are just that" and this "will be the biggest fright yet," but that he firmly believes that when all the facts are president" that he will be exonerated.
..... Booker joins Governor Phil Murphy and other New Jersey Democrats who have called on Menendez to step down, in stark contrast to the response to his 2015 indictment, when his party largely stood behind him.
..... In that case, the jury deadlocked and the case ended in a mistrial. the Justice Department dropped the charges in 2018.
..... Last time around, Republican Chris Christie was governor, and he would likely have appointed a Republican to fill a vacant Senate seat.
..... In Menendez's 2018 primary election after the charges were dropped, his little-known primary opponent, Lisa McCormick, won 38% of the vote. the last Republican to be elected to the U.S. Senator from New Jersey was Clifford Chase in 1972.
..... "These are serious charges that implicate national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system," Murphy said Friday. [09/22/2023] "Under our legal system, Senator Menendez and his other defendants have not been found guilty and will have the ability to present evidence disputing these charges, and we must respect the process.
..... "However, the alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state," Murphy said.
..... Booker joins a growing list of around a dozen Democratic senators calling on the colleague to resign, including John Fetterman and Bob Casey, of Pennsylvania; Sherrod Brown of Ohio; Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts; Peter Welch, of Vermont; Tammy Baldwin, of Wisconsin; Jon Tester, of Montana; and Jacky Rose, of Nevada.
..... If Menendez refuses to give up his seat, the Senate has the option of expelling him from the chamber with a two-thirds super-majority, though that option has been used against senators only 15 times in U.S. history, and not since the Civil War era.
..... Members of the state's House delegation, including Representatives Mikie Sherrill, Bill Pascrell Jr., Frank Pallone and Andy Kim, have also issued statements calling for Mendez to resign. Menendez is up for reelection next year, [2024] and Kin has said he will challenge Menendez in the Democratic primary.
..... Murphy's legislate counterparts echoed the sentiment, with State Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin saying the charges "go against everything we should believe as public servants."
..... Democratic Representative Donald Payne Jr. and Bonnie Watson Coleman and Republican Representative Christ Smith called the charges "very serious" and "concerning: but stopped short of saying Menendez should step down, both noting he is innocent until proven guilty. the senator's son, Rob Menendez, how represents the 8th District, issued a strong statement of support, saying he "has unwavering confidence" in his father.
..... The three-count indictment alleged that Menendez, his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, and three businessman - Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes - were part of bribery scheme.
..... The indictment alleges that between 2018 and 2022, Menendez, who serves as the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife "engaged in a corrupt relationship with Hana, Urbie and Daibes" to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for Menendez's using his "power and influence to protect, to enrich those businessmen and to benefit the government of Egypt."
..... In his statement, Booker said he has worked more closely with Menendez than with nay other colleague, "witnessed his extraordinary work and boundless work ethic" and found him to be "intellectually gifted, though, passionate, and deeply empathic."
..... "I've found the allegations hard to reconcile with the person I know," Booker wrote. "I still believe he, like anyone involved with our criminal justice system, deserves, our presumption of innocence until proven guilty. ... These is, however, another higher standard for public officials, one not of criminal law but of common ideals.
..... "The details of the allegations against Senator Menendez are of such a nature that the faith and trust of New Jerseyans as well as those he must work with in order to be effective have been shaken to the core."

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