Shame On Schumer And The Rest Of The Hypocrites In The Senate For Not Expelling Menendez

I wasn’t thrilled to read that Bob Menendez had deigned to finally agree to resign from the Senate on August 20. The members of the Senate are a bunch of elitist bums to agree to any such thing. An hour after Menendez was convicted of taking bribes from foreign powers he would have been expelled. Now they’re letting him set his own terms of departure. What the hell is wrong with these people?

The Hill assigned 3 reporters to cover the momentous news yesterday, Alexander Bolton, Yash Roy and Al Weaver. “The Senate on Tuesday,” they wrote, “received Menendez’s resignation letter and entered it into the record. He will step down effective Aug. 20… Menendez had resisted calls to step down since the indictment was first handed down, at the time accusing the of Justice of trying to force him from Congress because of his ‘humble beginnings’ as a first-generation Latino American, though he relinquished his post as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in accordance with Senate Democratic rules.”

That kind of Trump-talk undermining American law enforcement should entail an extra charge with a minimum automatic extra year in prison (on bread-and-water rations— and not bottled water).

Months alter, “once the verdict was announced, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who had previously [done everything he could to protect Menendez and help him escape accountability], said he should step down, as discussions of potentially expelling the New Jersey Democrat momentum. More than half of the Senate Democratic Conference had called for Menendez to leave Congress prior to the conviction, as had New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D).”

Now Murphy a typically crooked New Jersey politician, gets to pick a caretaker senator who will serve from early September until January 2025 when the new senator, presumably Andy Kim, is sworn in. The New Jersey Globe reported yesterday that “Possible candidates include First Lady Tammy Murphy, Lt. Governor Tahesha Way, former Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells and U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas; there are likely to be others on the list as well.”

Outrageously, “The delay between now and the planned resignation date could give Menendez the chance to give a farewell address from the Senate floor; he’ll also be able to continue voting on bills and nominations until his resignation becomes official.” Senators who don’t sit and listen to his farewell speech— unless they bring rotten fruit to throw at him— should come under scrutiny themselves. This was nearly a year ago!

Menendez, a three-term Democrat who once chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had stridently resisted calls for his resignation ever since a federal indictment against him was unsealed last September. [He was convicted] of trading influence in Washington for cash, gifts, and gold bars from three New Jersey businessmen; it was Menendez’s second bribery indictment, after previously beating corruption charges in 2017 [on a technicality, though clearly guilty] following a mistrial.

Even after Menendez was found guilty on all sixteen charges on July 16, the senator continued to maintain his innocence and insisted that he would appeal the ruling. 

But Menendez’s fellow senators, many of whom had already called for his resignation months ago, turned even more sharply against the senator after the verdict came down. U.S. Senator Cory Booker, Menendez’s longtime friend, said that if Menendez refused to resign, he would lead an effort to expel him from the Senate.

“He must stand up now and leave the Senate. He must do that. And if he refuses to do that, I will lead that effort to make sure that he’s removed from the Senate,” Booker said in an MSNBC interview. “It is the just thing to do.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not join in the calls for expulsion, but did say he believed Menendez should resign, something he had not said up until that point.

“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.

The Senate Ethics Committee, meanwhile, announced yesterday that it was beginning a review of Menendez’s conduct, a process that could have ultimately led to a recommendation of disciplinary actions such as censure or expulsion.

Menendez did not run for re-election this year as a Democrat, following widespread loss of support from both party leaders and voters in New Jersey due to the explosive charges against him. Kim, a three-term congressman from Burlington County, prevailed as the Democratic nominee to succeed him after a truncated intraparty fight, while Republicans nominated developer Curtis Bashaw.

But the incumbent senator did file to run again as an independent, arguing that he was “do[ing] what must be done to continue to uphold my oath of office for my constituents.” His would-be campaign worried some Democrats, who feared that he would split the Democratic vote enough to give Republicans an opening to win the seat; polls showed that a close race was possible with Menendez on the ballot.

Menendez has not yet announced if he will continue his independent bid, but his decision to resign makes such a campaign improbable.

Israel didn't send Menendez a bunch of gold bars or a Mercedes Benz, at least not as far as we know, but AIPAC took very, very good care of him. You wouldn't be weird to wonder why this isn't a serious crime, especially considering that Menendez was chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in American taxpayer money being transferred to the Israeli genocide machine, no questions asked.