Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted Friday, what does this mean?
Sep 22, 2023, 8:30 PM
FILE - The U.S. Capitol is seen on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife were indicted Friday on bribery charges.
SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, along with his wife were indicted Friday on federal bribery charges.
The senator had been indicted six years ago on similar charges. However, that case ended up in a hung jury. Also on Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy, D-New Jersey, called on Menendez to resign.
ABC News correspondent Andy Field breaks down the indictment with KSL NewsRadio.
According to Field, the indictment says the individuals accused of passing along bribes to the senator are also accused of passing along sensitive information to Egypt. Allegedly, Egypt was wanting to free up foreign aid from the United States.
“The Feds say they have the proof or evidence that Senator Menendez,” he said. “Basically ghost wrote the letter for Egypt to get other senators, knowing the language that would probably work on them, to help them free up this aid.”
Role of Sen. Bob Menendez in the Senate
Field doesn’t expect this will impact his seat in the Senate.
“I don’t know that it’s remotely likely that the Senate would vote him out of office,” Field said. “Or vote to eject him from office because the Democrats hold the majority and that would hurt the Democrats.”
However, Field points out that Menendez has to stepdown as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Because that is a rule that the Democrats put in place,” he said. “If you are charged with a crime, you cannot be a chair of a committee. But they didn’t say you can’t continue being the senator, which is what he’s gonna do.”
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