Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer broke with fellow Democrats on Wednesday by refusing to call for the resignation of embattled Sen. Bob Menendez.

Mr. Schumer said he was “deeply disappointed and disturbed” by the bribery and public corruption charges against the New Jersey Democrat but that he would withhold further judgment until after Mr. Menendez privately addresses Senate Democrats on Thursday.

“I’ve known Sen. Menendez a very long time, and I was truly, truly upset,” Mr. Schumer of New York told reporters. “But we all know that for senators there is a much, much higher standard, and clearly, when you read the indictment, Sen. Menendez fell way, way below that standard.”

“Tomorrow, he will address the Democratic Caucus,” he said. “We will see what happens after that.”

Mr. Menendez pleaded not guilty earlier Wednesday in federal court in New York. The third-term senator and his wife, Nadine Arslanian, are accused of accepting lavish gifts from three New Jersey businessmen — including around $500,000 in cash, gold bars worth more than $100,000 and a luxury car — in exchange for non-classified information to benefit the tycoons and the Egyptian government.

Similar bribery charges against Mr. Menendez from 2015 ended in a mistrial. 

Mr. Menendez has said the new charges against him were fueled by his political opponents and because he is a Cuban American.

More than half of Senate Democrats are pushing Mr. Menendez to resign, including the four highest-ranking Democrats below Mr. Schumer.

• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.