(Daily360.com) – Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senator from New York and Senate Minority Leader, has urged Democratic Senator Bob Menendez to resign following news of his guilty verdict.
A jury found Menendez guilty on 16 counts, which is all of the charges that were brought against him. Menendez is said to have acted as a foreign agent in a bribery scheme and the most significant conviction was for wire fraud. Menendez will be sentenced in October and could face up to 222 years in prison, although the sentences are expected to be served concurrently. The wiretapping charge can receive a sentence of up to 20 years.
Menendez spoke to journalists after the verdict and stated he is completely innocent and plans to appeal the conviction. He said he has never been a foreign agent and has only acted as a patriot on behalf of his American constituents in the Senate. He warned that the convictions against him will put other Senators at risk for being deemed a foreign agent by a future jury in the court system.
Menendez did not initially state any intention to resign his seat in the Senate and has previously filed the paperwork to run for re-election as an independent candidate. Andy Kim, a House representative from New Jersey, is the Democratic party nominee to take Menendez’s Senate seat and he has also called for the convicted Senator to resign.
A report indicated that Menendez had spoken to allies and expressed his intent to resign from his Senate seat in the aftermath of the verdict. The Senator denied the report that he intends to resign or that he has had conversations with allies regarding the situation.
In response to the report, Menendez stated that there is a group effort to force him into making a statement to resign. He said that this kind of strategy will not work to get him to resign from his Senate seat. His term ends in January 2025.
Copyright 2024, Daily360.com
