Staff Reports
When asked what he thought about Sen. Bob Menendez's (D-NJ) federal corruption charges, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said right away that he thought Menendez should step down. McCarthy didn't hold back when he said that the case against Menendez was "pretty black or white." When asked if Menendez should resign, McCarthy gave a strong "yeah."
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The charges against Menendez are very serious and show that he is crooked. According to the Justice Department, Menendez worked with others to bribe, dishonestly perform services, and demand money from Egyptian officials while acting in the course of his official duties. He also allegedly gave Egyptian officials private and secret information in exchange for cash and gold bars. As well as Menendez, three businessmen from New Jersey—Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes—and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were also charged, the case has more weight.
McCarthy, like many others, thinks that the facts of the indictment are bad and scary. He said that the gold bars found with the developer's ID number, the cash with driver fingerprints, and the fact that Menendez seemed to have looked up the value of gold bars on the Internet all raise real concerns about how bad the corruption is. McCarthy's sarcastic comment that most people put their money in the bank instead of putting gold bars in their clothes shows that he doesn't believe what Menendez is said to have done and doesn't like it.
Menendez is eager to keep his Senate seat, even though he stepped down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But other elected officials, like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ), have asked Menendez to step down because of how serious the Justice Department's claims are and how they could threaten national security.
Menendez was charged with federal corruption in 2015, but the charges were later dropped. This may make him less trustworthy and give more weight to the current accusations against him. Menendez has been a senator since 2006, and he should think about how his continued presence could hurt the Senate's reputation and the public's faith in politicians.
