Bob Menendez donations spark pressure for Democrats to return cash from indicted senator

Pressure is mounting for Democrats to fork over donations they took from a political action committee tied to Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who faces resignation calls from liberals after being indicted for the second time in eight years.

Federal prosecutors on Friday announced corruption charges against Menendez, who has maintained his innocence, for allegedly using his position of power to boost Egypt’s government in exchange for bribes. Through the years, Menendez’s New Millennium PAC has sprinkled hundreds of thousands of dollars combined into the campaign coffers for Democratic senators and House members, some of whom are vowing to return contributions and also demanding that the New Jersey senator step down.

CORY BOOKER CALLS ON NEW JERSEY COLLEAGUE MENENDEZ TO RESIGN AMID INDICTMENT UPROAR

“They’re obviously being driven by a political optics concern and they want to minimize their association with him,” political and election law attorney Mike Columbo, an ex-lawyer for the Federal Election Commission and assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., told the Washington Examiner.

He said, to his knowledge, there is no present legal requirement for the elected officials to part with the funds, but rather “an understandable motive” to show they will not retain a benefit that could be perceived as deriving from the alleged crimes.

Menendez is being accused of unlawfully dishing out favors for three businessmen in exchange for a Mercedes-Benz, gold bars, cash, and mortgage payments. Federal investigators located over $480,000 at his New Jersey home stuffed in envelopes, a safe, and closets. Still, the senator, who on Friday left his post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a statement slamming members of Congress urging him to resign, declaring, “To those who have rushed to judgment, you have done so based on a limited set of facts framed by the prosecution to be as salacious as possible.”

Sen. John Fetterman‘s (D-PA) office said on Tuesday it’s in the “process” of returning the $5,000 his campaign hauled in 2022 from Menendez’s PAC, while a spokesperson for Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) said his team will turn over $10,000 from it to an unspecified cause. Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-MT) campaign is giving $10,000 it received from the PAC to a charity benefiting veterans, the Messenger reported.

“It’s bizarre that Jon Tester and Bob Casey are returning only some of the money they took from Crooked Bob Menendez,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Mike Berg, referring to how New Millennium PAC has given more than $10,000 each to the Tester and Casey campaigns, told the Washington Examiner.

“Do Tester and Casey think Menendez is only partially corrupt?” Berg asked.

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) said Tuesday she’ll return $5,000 in campaign contributions from New Millennium PAC, while the New Jersey Globe reported that Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) will give cash from the PAC to a charity.

The Washington Examiner reached out to a number of offices and campaigns for Democrats who have been on the receiving end of donations from the PAC, though it did not receive a response by publication time on whether they’ll be keeping the funds. This includes Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Cory Booker (D-NJ).

“Sen. Menendez fiercely asserts his innocence and it is therefore understandable that he believes stepping down is patently unfair,” Booker said on Tuesday. “But I believe this is a mistake. I believe stepping down is best for those Sen. Menendez has spent his life serving.”

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Spokespeople for Menendez did not return a request for comment.

Menendez, 69, was previously indicted in 2015 for allegedly accepting favors in violation of federal law, including private jet flights, though the case was a mistrial and federal prosecutors didn’t retry the Democrat. He is up for reelection next year, and the controversy swirls as Democrats look to retain a majority in the upper chamber.