(TRENTON, N.J.) — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez will resign on August 20 following his conviction for taking bribes in exchange for corrupt acts, including acting as an agent of the Egyptian government, he announced in a letter to New Jersey’s governor obtained by The Associated Press.
Menendez, who maintains his innocence, stated in his letter that he plans to appeal the verdict, taking his case all the way to the Supreme Court. The senator requested a month-long delay in his departure to allow his staff to ensure an orderly transition, according to the letter sent to fellow Democrat, Gov. Phil Murphy.
While Menendez did not explicitly mention the federal conviction in his letter, he highlighted his accomplishments, including aiding victims of Superstorm Sandy and securing transit funding, while directly addressing the governor and reminding him of his previous praise for Menendez.
“These successes led you, Governor, to call me the ‘Indispensable Senator,’” he wrote.
The Senate received a copy of Menendez’s resignation letter, according to Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, who was presiding in the chamber on Tuesday.
With Menendez’s resignation, Murphy now has the authority to appoint someone to the Senate seat for the remainder of Menendez’s term, which expires on January 3. The seat was already scheduled for an election on November 5. Democrats have nominated U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, who holds a strong position in the Democratic-leaning state. He faces Republican Curtis Bashaw.
Menendez, 70, was convicted of charges that he traded the power of his office for favors from three New Jersey businessmen. Prosecutors alleged that Menendez used his influence to interfere in three separate state and federal criminal investigations to protect his associates. They claimed he aided one bribe-paying friend in securing a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund and helped another keep a contract to provide religious certification for meat destined for Egypt.
He was also found guilty of taking actions that benefited the Egyptian government in exchange for bribes. This included providing details on embassy staff in Cairo and ghostwriting a letter to fellow senators advocating for the lifting of a hold on military aid to Egypt. FBI agents discovered stacks of gold bars and $480,000 in cash hidden in Menendez’s house.
Following his conviction, Menendez denied all of the allegations, stating “I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.”
However, numerous fellow Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, urged Menendez to resign. Murphy had pressed the Senate to expel Menendez if he didn’t step down. Only 15 senators have ever been expelled. Sen. William Blount, of Tennessee, was ousted in 1797 for treason. The other 14 were expelled in 1861 and 1862 for supporting Confederates during the Civil War.
Menendez faces a potential sentence of decades in prison. A judge scheduled his sentencing for October 29, a week before the election.
His resignation marks the end of a political career that began with his election to his local school board shortly after graduating high school. He has held office at every level in his home state and had pledged to run as an independent in November for a fourth term.
The son of Cuban immigrants and a lawyer by profession, Menendez was a Union City, New Jersey, school board member at the age of 20 — before graduating from law school — and later served as the city’s mayor, where he still holds deep connections.
His own biography states that he aspired to fight corruption early in his political career, testifying against Union City officials and establishing a reputation for toughness. From there, he was elected to the state Assembly, then the state Senate, before moving on to the U.S. House.
He was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2006 when the seat became available after incumbent Jon Corzine became governor. He was subsequently elected to the seat in 2006, 2012, and 2018. He served as chair of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee beginning in 2013.
Menendez’s political future seemed uncertain in 2015 when he was indicted in New Jersey on charges that he had accepted bribes in the form of luxury overseas vacations, private jet travel, and campaign contributions from a wealthy Florida eye doctor, Salomon Melgen.
Prosecutors alleged that Menendez pressured government officials on Melgen’s behalf in a dispute over $8.9 million in Medicare billing and a stalled contract to provide port screening equipment in the Dominican Republic. They also claimed he assisted Melgen in obtaining U.S. visas for his girlfriends.
The defense argued that the gifts were not bribes but tokens of friendship between two men who were “like brothers.”
A jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict, leading to a mistrial in 2017. U.S. prosecutors declined to pursue a retrial.
New Jersey voters then re-elected Menendez to the Senate for another term. Melgen was convicted in a separate fraud trial, but his 17-year prison sentence was later commuted by then-President Donald Trump.
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Jalonick reported from Washington.