Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) declared his innocence Tuesday after reporters cornered him in a Capitol Hill elevator amid growing calls for his resignation from lawmakers.
Menendez appeared irritated with reporters who questioned him about his refusal to step down from the Senate after being indicted on federal corruption charges last week.
At least 22 Senate Democrats have publicly called for the New Jersey lawmaker’s resignation Tuesday night, as he faces three felony charges related to an alleged years-long bribery scheme that Manhattan prosecutors say benefited Menendez, his wife, three businessmen Garden State and Egyptian government.
“Because I am innocent! What’s wrong with you all?” Menendez shouted to the reporter as the door to the elevator outside the Capitol Building office closed.
At least 22 Senate Democrats and independent Senator Bernie Sanders have called on Menendez to resign. AP
“I’m here to do the work of the people of New Jersey,” the embattled senator said repeatedly, declining to announce if he would run for re-election.
Menendez’s fellow New Jersey senator, Cory Booker, said Tuesday that his upper house colleagues should resign after the revelations of corruption allegations against him and his wife, Nadine Menendez.
Menendez faces three felony charges in the federal indictment against him. Getty Images
“Resigning is not an admission of guilt but an acknowledgment that holding public office often demands great sacrifice at great personal cost,” Booker said in a statement.
“Senator Menendez has made these sacrifices in the past to serve. And in this case he must do it again. I believe stepping down is the best thing for Senator Menendez to have spent his life serving,” he added.
Menendez “is no longer able to serve effectively in this US Senate,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Tuesday afternoon.
“I call on Senator Menendez to resign,” Peters said in a statement, suggesting that the incumbent no longer has support from the Senate’s campaign fundraising arm.
Menendez and his wife are accused of receiving gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz and cash in exchange for giving political favors and helping the Egyptian government.Getty Images
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc .) , Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Elizabeth Warren (D -Mass .), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Bernie Sanders (I -Vt.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) have also called on Menendez to step down.
In the lower chamber, House Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday that it “may be a good idea if [Menendez] resign,” joined Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and others are calling for his resignation.
Menendez, who has resigned as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is accused of providing political favors to the Egyptian government and to co-defendants Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes in exchange for bribes, including a Mercedes-Benz, cash and more than $150,000 in bullion gold.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
