The pressure is on for Sen. Bob Menendez to resign from the Senate or potentially face removal.
Minutes after a New Jersey jury found the Democrat guilty Tuesday on charges of bribery, extortion and acting as a foreign agent, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for him 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 tweeted in response to the verdict.
Schumer had stopped short of calling for Menendez’s resignation in the past, even when over half of the Senate Democratic caucus called for him to step down due to the indictment.
If Menendez does not resign, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday that the Senate should oust him. “If Menendez refuses to vacate his office, I call on the U.S. Senate to vote to expel him,” he said in a statement. He had previously called for Menendez to step down.
Despite the growing public pressure, Menendez’s conviction does not force him to resign. However, he could be removed from office if two-thirds of the Senate votes to remove him. Murphy would appoint an interim senator to fill that vacancy.
Menendez has maintained his innocence amid the charges and refused to step down. He ignored reporters’ questions on Tuesday about whether he would resign but said the jury’s decision “would put at risk every member of the U.S. Senate as it pertains to what they think a foreign agent should be.”
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams disputed that point, saying in a statement, “This wasn’t politics as usual; this was politics for profit.”
Menendez is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 29 and will remain free until then.
Along with deciding what to do about his current seat, Menendez will have to consider whether to continue his reelection bid. He remains legally eligible to run for the Senate despite his conviction, according to the Congressional Research Service. After initially deciding not to run for reelection, Menendez filed to run for Senate as an independent in June. He has until Aug. 16 to decide to withdraw from the ballot.
If Menendez stays in the race, he will face Republican Curtis Bashaw and Democrat Andy Kim, who is currently a House member. Punchbowl News reported Tuesday that Kim said he would accept if Murphy asked him to take Menendez’s seat for the remainder of the term should the senator be expelled.
Kim also reiterated his call for Menendez to step down in a statement.
“I believe the only course of action for him is to resign his seat immediately,” he said. “The people of New Jersey deserve better.”
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Ryan Hernández is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.