


Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) refused to say Wednesday whether he would move to boot one of his own from the chamber should Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) be handed down a guilty verdict in his public corruption criminal trial.
“He’s on trial,” Schumer responded to reporters. “So I’m not going to comment.”
Schumer remains the lone member of Senate Democratic leadership not to call for Menendez’s resignation amid allegations from prosecutors that the former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman accepted lavish bribes and used his powerful position in government to act as a foreign agent for Egypt and Qatar.
The majority of Senate Democrats have urged Menendez to take the exit door.
The trial is already complicating Schumer’s job in a narrowly split 51-49 majority, acting as a political thorn in his side when it comes to confirming judicial nominees along party lines.
Poised with a similar question, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) quipped to reporters that he was “really glad [Menendez] is not a Republican.”
Menendez’s trial commenced in New York City this week with jury selection for a case that could last a couple of months. The third-term senator has remained defiant in his innocence and has refused to resign from office but said he won’t seek reelection this fall unless acquitted.
If convicted, Menendez, 70, could theoretically continue to serve in the Senate, cast votes, and even be reelected under current law. But he would most likely face expulsion from his peers, which would require a two-thirds majority vote.
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If an absence were to occur with his seat, Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) would appoint his replacement to serve until the end of the senator’s term that concludes in January 2025.
A similar public corruption case against Menendez ended with a mistrial in 2017 due to a hung jury. Prosecutors declined to retry the case.