2024-07-24 02:10:02
Bob Menendez is to resign from the US Senate after being convicted of accepting bribes including gold bars to help foreign governments.
The New Jersey Democrat had been resisting resignation calls – including from Democratic Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer. His resignation comes a day after the Senate’s ethics committee began a review on his expulsion.
Menendez – formerly the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – was found guilty on 16 counts related to corruption. He faces decades in prison.
The 70-year-old maintains his innocence, saying outside court after his conviction that he “never violated my public oath”. He is to be sentenced on 29 October.
The Senate received Menendez’s resignation on Tuesday afternoon, according to a message read aloud on the Senate floor. CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, said it would be effective from 20 August.
A late August resignation would allow him to collect at least another month of his Senate salary and health insurance, at a time when his finances are stretched and his wife, Nadine, is undergoing cancer treatment, The New York Times reported.
The BBC has contacted Menendez’s office for comment.
Menendez says he will appeal against his conviction, saying he has “every faith” that the facts “did not sustain” the guilty verdict.
Menendez was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1993. He was later appointed to the Senate in 2006 by John Corzine, who resigned his seat after being elected governor of New Jersey.
A previous bribery and conspiracy charges ended in a mistrial in 2017. However, prosecutors were this time able to convince the jury in his nine-week trial this year that Menendez accepted bribes in exchange for helping the Qatari and Egyptian governments.
Jurors were told that FBI agents discovered more than $480,000 (£370,452) in cash stuffed in envelopes and coats in Menendez’s home, along with gold bars worth more than $100,000. Some of the bullion was presented to the jury as evidence.
Two businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, are also being tried on accusations that they sought out the senator to illegally aid the Egyptian government and secure millions of dollars from a Qatari investment fund. They deny the charges.
A third businessman, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty and gave evidence against Menendez in the trial.
New Jersey Representative Andy Kim won the Democratic nomination to run for Senate in June, beating Tammy Murphy, the wife of New Jersey’s governor.
The New York Times reported that Menendez could theoretically run for re-election as an independent, potentially siphoning votes from the Democrats at a time when the party is heavily focused on maintaining the Senate and White House.
A trial against his wife on bribery and obstruction charges have been postponed indefinitely while she recovers from breast cancer surgery.
