U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez will resign Aug. 20 following his conviction for taking bribes for corrupt acts including acting as an agent of the Egyptian government, he wrote in a letter to New Jersey’s governor obtained by The Associated Press.
Menendez had insisted after the July 16 verdict that he was innocent and on Tuesday in his letter promised to appeal “all the way,” including to the Supreme Court, he wrote to fellow Democrat, Gov. Phil Murphy. The roughly monthlong delay in leaving gives his staff time for an orderly transition, Menendez wrote.
He did not mention the federal conviction in the letter but cited his work helping Superstorm Sandy victims and getting transit funding, among other items and addressed the governor directly, reminding him that he had once praised Menendez — before calling for his resignation.
“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.
The resignation gives Murphy the ability to appoint someone to the Senate for the remainder of Menendez’s term, which expires on Jan. 3. The seat was already up for election on Nov. 5. Democrats have nominated U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, who’s in a strong position in the Democratic-leaning state. He faces Republican Curtis Bashaw.
Menendez, 70, was convicted of charges that he sold the power of his office to three New Jersey businessmen who sought a variety of favors. Prosecutors said Menendez used his influence to meddle in three different state and federal criminal investigations to protect his associates. They said he helped one bribe-paying friend get a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund and another keep a contract to provide religious certification for meat bound for Egypt.
He was also convicted of taking actions that benefited Egypt’s government in exchange for bribes, including providing details on personnel at the U.S. embassy in Cairo, ghostwriting a letter to fellow senators regarding lifting a hold on military aid to Egypt. FBI agents found stacks of gold bars and $480,000 in cash hidden in Menendez’s house.
After his conviction, Menendez denied all of those allegations, saying “I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.”
But numerous fellow Democrats had urged him to resign, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Murphy had urged the Senate to expel Menendez if he didn’t quit. 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 the possibility of decades in prison. A judge scheduled his sentencing on Oct. 29, a week before the election.
His resignation bookends a career spent in politics that started with him getting elected to his local school board just a couple of years after high school graduation. He’s held office at every level in his home state and had vowed to run as an independent in November for a fourth term.
The son of Cuban immigrants and an attorney by training, Menendez was a Union City, New Jersey, school board member at age 20 — before graduating from law school — and later became the mayor of the city, where he still has deep connections.
His own biography says he wanted to fight corruption early in his political career, testifying against Union City officials and building a reputation as tough. From there, he was elected to the state Assembly, then the state Senate before heading to the U.S. House.
He was appointed to be a U.S. senator in 2006 when the seat opened up after incumbent Jon Corzine became governor. He was elected outright in 2006 and again in 2012 and 2018. He served as chair of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee beginning in 2013.
Menendez’ political career looked like it might be over in 2015, when he was indicted in New Jersey on charges that he had accepted bribes of luxury overseas vacations, private jet travel and campaign contributions from a wealthy Florida eye doctor, Salomon Melgen.
In return, prosecutors said Menendez pressured government officials on Melgen’s behalf over an $8.9 million Medicare billing dispute and a stalled contract to provide port screening equipment in the Dominican Republic. They said he also helped obtain U.S. visas for the doctor’s girlfriends.
The defense argued that the gifts were not bribes but tokens of friendship between two men who were “like brothers.”
A jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict, resulting in a mistrial in 2017. U.S. prosecutors didn’t seek a retrial.
New Jersey voters then returned 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.