Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) demanded the resignation of Sen. Bob Menendez on Tuesday within an hour of his conviction on bribery charges.
“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 said in a statement.
Menendez (D-NJ), 70, had chaired the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee until his indictment last September on corruption charges, which expanded in the subsequent months to include counts of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Egypt and Qatar.
Schumer had insisted his longtime colleague had “a right to due process and a fair trial” — but accepted Menendez’s decision to step down as Foreign Relations chairman as the case progressed.