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It was late last week when Sen. Bob Menendez received a fresh round of bad news. As a local NBC affiliate reported, a co-defendant in the corruption investigation into the New Jersey Democrat “agreed to plead guilty and will cooperate with prosecutors.”
But as discouraging as last week’s developments were for the senator, this week’s developments were arguably worse. NBC News reported:
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was hit Tuesday with charges alleging that he and his wife conspired to obstruct justice in the bribery case against them. The superseding indictment against Menendez and his wife, Nadine, brings the total number of federal charges facing the once-powerful head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to 18.
For those who might benefit from a refresher, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
Federal prosecutors first indicted Menendez in late September, alleging that the New Jersey Democrat received “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in bribes and used his influence to benefit, among others, the Egyptian government.
Though the senator has denied any wrongdoing, and he pleaded not guilty in court, it was difficult to deny the seriousness of the allegations. According to the Justice Department, Menendez received, among other things, cash, gold bars, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low- or no-show job, and a luxury vehicle. Complicating matters, the longtime lawmaker struggled to present much of a public defense.
It’s one of the reasons why most of Menendez’s Democratic colleagues, and his home state’s Democratic governor, have urged him to resign.
Roughly three weeks later, the senator was indicted again, and those charges accused him of providing sensitive information to the Egyptian government in exchange for bribes. What’s more, prosecutors alleged that Menendez acted as a foreign agent while serving as the chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
That was in October. In January, the incumbent lawmaker faced another round of criminal allegations, with prosecutors claiming he took improper actions in support of Qatar as recently as 2021 and 2022.
This week, Menendez confronted still more charges, alleging that he and his wife conspired to obstruct justice.
To reiterate, the senator has repeatedly insisted that he’s done nothing wrong, and after one of his indictments, the Democrat’s defense attorney characterized the charges as “absurd” and “false.”
Nevertheless, we’re left with a few lingering questions.
1. Will additional senators call for his resignation? According to the latest tally from NBC News, 31 current senators — all Democrats — have called on Menendez to give up his seat. As the criminal charges mount, the pressure will grow on other Senate members to add their names to the list.
2. Will additional senators call for his expulsion? In October, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman became the first sitting senator to raise the prospect of expelling Menendez. “We cannot have an alleged foreign agent in the United States Senate,” the Pennsylvanian said in a statement. “This is not a close call.” Since then, how many other senators have come to the same conclusion? Literally none. The latest superseding indictment offers members a fresh opportunity to consider the issue.
3. Will Menendez give up on his re-election campaign? It might seem absurd, but as things stand, the incumbent senator is officially running for a fourth term in the fall. His odds of success are almost comically low — the Democrat’s approval rating was just 8% in one recent poll — leading to speculation that he’ll soon bow out and save himself the embarrassment of failing in an upcoming primary.
Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.