(The Center Square) — Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez will resign next month after being found guilty in a federal bribery and corruption trial, according to multiple published reports.
Menendez will step down effective Aug. 20 after telling staff and sending a resignation letter to senate leaders and Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday, several media outlets are reporting, citing unnamed sources.
Menendez, 70, was convicted by a New York City jury a week ago of 16 counts of bribery, extortion, fraud and acting as a foreign agent. He faces decades in prison.
His pending resignation will cap a dramatic downfall for one of New Jersey’s most powerful Democratic politicians, who has served in the Senate since 2006. It also prevents what promised to be a nasty inter-party fight over expelling him from the chamber ahead of the November elections.
Federal prosecutors allege that Menendez and his wife, Nadine, accepted gold, cash, a Mercedes Benz and other bribes in exchange for using his political influence to benefit the Egyptian and Qatari governments and business associates. His wife’s trial has been delayed while she recovers from cancer. Two of Menendez’s New Jersey business associates are also on trial.
Menendez has vowed to appeal the guilty verdict and has, until now, declined to cede to demands from top Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, to step down.
“In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” Schumer said in a statement.
New Jersey’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Cory Booker, had vowed to leave the effort to expel him from the Senate if he didn’t resign.
“I have never violated my public oath,” Menendez said outside the courthouse after the conviction. “I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.”
Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., won the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for Menendez’s seat in November against Republican Curtis Bashaw. Menendez had filed to run for reelection as an independent, saying he would continue his campaign if acquitted of the charges.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, is expected to tap a replacement to serve the remainder of Menendez’s term, which ends on Jan. 3, 2025. Republican lawmakers have urged Murphy not to appoint Kim to fill out the remainder of Menendez’s term.
Menendez was charged in a separate New Jersey public corruption case that ended in a mistrial in 2018. He had also denied wrongdoing in that case.