US senator accused of bribery

U.S. prosecutors have charged Senator Bob Menendez and his wife with accepting bribes from three New Jersey businessmen. According to AAA, US Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday that Menendez will temporarily step down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in connection with the investigation. Menendez, 69, and his wife received hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold bullion in exchange for using their power and influence as New Jersey's top senator to help a group of New Jersey businessmen in Egypt, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan said. As chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez was an important ally of Democratic President Joe Biden.

New Jersey's Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, as well as several other Democratic state officials and members of the U.S. House of Representatives, have called on Menendez to resign from the Senate, but Menendez has said he has no plans to resign and has no plans to go anywhere. House Democrats in the U.S. Senate require that any member accused of crimes such as bribery must resign from committee leadership, but Menendez is not required to resign from the Senate and if his charges are dropped, he will may return to his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This is the third time Menendez, a key Biden ally, has been questioned by federal prosecutors even though he has never been convicted.