It’s a disgrace: Bob Menendez (D-NJ) is still a member in good standing of the US Senate, and privy to national-security briefings, despite federal indictments and a huge pile of evidence, including a big stack of gold bars, exposing his corruption — including collusion with foreign governments.
Heck, these charges come from the Biden Justice Department, and he’s under federal indictment for corruption and influence-peddling for a second time — a historic first.
(Plus, his escape the the first time ’round was an outrage in itself: The feds dropped the remaining charges after one jury hung and the courts redefined what could count as “bribery.”)
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer should be telling Bob to resign or face expulsion.
And, if Schumer’s just worried about losing a Democratic vote, he should look to the other side of the Capitol, where then-new House Speaker Mike Johnson oversaw the booting of Rep. George Santos (also charged but not yet convicted) — despite the risk to his slim margin.
Schumer still would be better off than Johnson is, with a solid 51-48 majority plus Vice President Kamala Harris on speed-dial if there are any tie votes.
But Chuck hasn’t even blocked Gold Bars Bob from any confidential briefings, though he stands charged with providing “sensitive” secret US information to Egyptian officials.
For the record, the only federal lawmaker from New Jersey who hasn’t said Menendez should go is his own son, Rep. Robert Menendez Jr. (D-NJ).
And Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from next-door Pennsylvania, regularly calls out Menendez as a disgrace who doesn’t belong in the Senate. (He also returned a $5,000 donation from Menendez’s PAC.)
Menendez should have no more opportunity to trade his vote for favors of any kind, nor to learn any more secrets to sell.
Nor to draw more salary from the taxpayers or marginally pad a pension he doesn’t deserve.
He’ll be spending much of the coming months in court anyway — unless his trial, now set to start May 15, gets pushed back again.
Yet, for all Democrats’ thunder about “threats to our democracy,” Schumer sits on his hands when it comes to Menendez.
Come on, Chuck: Tell Gold Bars to go — and if he refuses, get the march to an expulsion vote started.