Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin stops short of demanding Bob Menendez to resign
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Sunday, refrained from urging his colleague Sen. Bob Menendez to step down after the New Jersey Democrat was hit with federal corruption charges.
Durbin — the No. 2 Senate Democrat — described the charges against Menendez as “very serious” but emphasized that Menendez was innocent until proven guilty.
“There is a presumption of innocence. How far it goes in terms of his future service is something to be decided by the senator and New Jersey,” Durbin told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
“This is a very serious charge. There’s no question about it,” he added. “But it bears reminding us what I’ve said about the indictments against Donald Trump equally serious charges. These are in fact, indictments that have to be proven.”
Durbin’s remarks echo those of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who stressed Friday that Menendez “has a right to due process and a fair trial.”
Several prominent New Jersey Democrats have called on Menendez to resign since the 69-year-old senator and his wife Nadine were accused of pocketing bribes — including 13 gold bars, $566,000 in cash and a Mercedes Benz C-Class sedan — in a “corrupt” agreement to benefit three New Jersey businessmen and the government of Egypt.
“I called on him given the gravity of charges to step aside,” New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer explained on “State of the Union.”
“We’ve got elections coming up, there’s a lot of distractions, obviously,” the Democrat continued. “I think what’s best is that he step aside.”
Gov. Phil Murphy also implored Menendez to step down, and Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) said he plans to primary Menendez — who’s up for reelection in 2024 — in the wake of the indictment.
One man who is ruling out a run for the seat is former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who’s vying for the 2024 Republican nomination for president.
“I had a chance to appoint myself to the US Senate,” Christie told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “f I didn’t appoint myself, the easiest way to get there, I sure as heck am not going to run for it.”
FBI agents purportedly discovered the $566,000 in cash and some of the gold bars during a raid of Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs home in June 2022.
Prosecutors cited text messages and a trove of digital evidence in the three-count indictment against Menendez, unsealed Friday in Manhattan federal court.
Menendez has vehemently denied wrongdoing.
“Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. Senator,” he said in a defiant statement. “Even worse, they see me as an obstacle in the way of their broader political goals.”
In keeping with Senate Democratic caucus rules, he has opted to temporarily step down from his post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Schumer is set to decide a temporary replacement on the powerful committee.
Menendez had long been influence on foreign policy, but has split with Democrats on policy toward Iran and Afghanistan in the past.
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