McCarthy says Menendez should resign following indictment

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said Friday he thinks Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), now facing a federal corruption indictment, should resign.

“In that case, it seemed pretty black or white,” McCarthy said when asked about the case against the New Jersey senator. He replied “yeah” when asked if he thought Menendez should step down.

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Menendez was indicted Friday on charges including conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. The Justice Department said Menendez worked secretly to help the government of Egypt, including providing Egyptian officials with “sensitive, non-public” information, and in return received payments in cash and gold bars handled by three New Jersey businessmen. Those businessmen, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes, were also indicted Friday, as was Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez.

“From what I read it’s very damaging,” McCarthy said of the indictment. “I mean, to have gold bars with the ID number that was from the developer, cash with the fingerprints of the driver, you’re wrapping it up in your clothes — most people put money in the bank. Googling how much a gold bar is worth — was that trying to figure out how much he gave him?”

Menendez stepped down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but has vowed to keep his seat in the Senate.

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A number of elected officials, including Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ), have said Menendez should resign, citing the gravity of the Justice Department’s allegations and the threat to national security they represent if ultimately proven correct.

Menendez has served as a senator since 2006. He has faced federal corruption charges before, in 2015, but those charges were dropped three years later after a jury failed to reach a verdict.