(New York) Influential Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, convicted in mid-July after his corruption trial, has finally decided to resign after resisting calls for months to leave his seat, the governor of the state of New Jersey announced.
The 70-year-old senator told his staff he intended to formally resign on Aug. 20 and also informed Phil Murphy, a Democrat who governs New Jersey, Mr. Menendez’s home state that borders New York.
“I received a letter today from Senator Bob Menendez informing me of his intention to resign effective August 20, 2024. I will do my duty by making a temporary appointment to the United States Senate to ensure that the people of New Jersey receive the representation they deserve,” the governor wrote on his X account.
Robert Menendez’s decision to step down a few months before the end of his term will spare the Democratic Party the potential expulsion process ahead of the November presidential and congressional elections.
With Democrats holding a very slim majority in the Senate, the New Jersey governor is expected to appoint a replacement for “Bob” Menendez until the end of the legislative term in January.
Robert Menendez, however, did not specify whether he still intends to run as an independent to keep his seat in the Senate, as he had previously announced.
The senator will be sentenced on October 29, just before the November 5 polls.
On July 16, he was found guilty by a jury in federal court in New York on all 16 counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, and obstruction of justice, in the case involving Egypt and Qatar.
He appealed.
During a search of the Menendez couple’s home in June 2022, the police found $480,000 in cash in envelopes hidden in cupboards, clothes or a safe, as well as 13 gold bars.
Bob Menendez is a veteran of American politics and an influential senator, former chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, from which he resigned because of this affair.
But he had always refused to leave his seat as senator, despite pressure from the Democratic camp.