Colorado’s two U.S. senators on Tuesday joined a growing chorus calling for New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, a fellow Democrat, to resign over the federal bribery allegations against him.
“As with all Americans, Sen. Menendez must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and will face his day in court,” Sen. Michael Bennet said in a written statement. “The nature of these charges erodes public trust in Congress. No one is entitled to serve in the U.S. Senate, and he should step aside.”
Sen. John Hickenlooper echoed Bennet’s sentiment later in the day.
“We have a system in this country that’s based on trust,” Hickenlooper said. “Abe Lincoln said ‘with public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.’ Trust has to be paramount in our government. I think he should resign.”
More than 20 Senate Democrats have said that Menendez should resign, including several Democrats running for reelection next year and fellow New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker. Calls for Menendez’s resignation came in quick succession after Booker’s statement, including from the head of the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters. Menendez has refused to leave office but has not yet said whether he will run for reelection next year.
Menendez, the longtime chairman and top Democrat on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife Nadine are accused in an indictment released Friday of using his position to aid the authoritarian government of Egypt and to pressure federal prosecutors to drop a case against a friend, among other allegations of corruption. The three-count indictment says they were paid bribes — gold bars, a luxury car and cash — by three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for the corrupt acts.
In his statement, Booker said that while Menendez deserves the presumption of innocence, senators should adhere to a higher standard, and the details of the allegations against…
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