Embattled Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.) will not seek reelection in November, but he refuses to resign.
Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were charged with obstruction of justice in a new 18-count indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The new charges relate to a bribery scheme involving Egypt and Qatar.
Quoted from the New York Post:
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez will not run for re-election next November, though he still refuses to resign, The Washington Post has learned.
A source close to Menendez said: “He will not run.”
The three-term federal senator, who resigned from his powerful post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after his initial indictment last year, faces an 18-count indictment — and stiff competition from a group of Democratic primary rivals.
In an interview with Forbes Thursday, Menendez said he would not resign, but when asked if he would run for re-election, he said, “Uh, that's another question.”
Menendez has been under pressure to resign from fellow Democrats and Republicans. He faces tough challenges in the Democratic primary from progressive New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim and the state's first lady, Tammy Murphy, among others.
In January, Menendez was indicted on a second alternative indictment for praising Qatar in exchange for luxury watches.
“Menendez provided Daibis with these statements so that Daibis could share them with the Qatari investor and a Qatari government official associated with the Qatari investment company,” the indictment said, according to NBC News.
In October, Bob Menendez was charged with serving as a foreign agent in a superseding indictment.
The new indictment filed by a federal grand jury in Manhattan alleges that Menendez “provided sensitive information to the U.S. government and took other steps that secretly assisted the Egyptian government.”
Damian Williams said Nadine Menendez received a “no show” or “no show” job, a Mercedes Benz and other items of value.
Special agents discovered $500,000 in cash stuffed in envelopes in the lockers. “Some of the cash was stuffed in the senator's jacket pockets. Some of the cash envelopes contained De'Ebis' fingerprints and De'Ebis' DNA,” Williams said at a news conference last month.
Menendez refuses to resign and continues to attend secret briefings.
