Senate GOP leaves Menendez judgment to jury as Democrats split on resignation demand

Senators were flooded with questions about Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-NJ) federal indictment on bribery charges when they returned to Washington on Tuesday.

Senators typically return to their home states for the weekend on Thursday and head back to Washington on Monday or Tuesday, with conference luncheons scheduled for the next day. The Menendez indictment was handed down on Friday, meaning that members have not yet had the chance to discuss the news with large swaths of their colleagues.

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A number of members on both sides did not wait to hear from their conference to speak out on the charges. Nearly half of the Senate Democratic Conference, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), has called on Menendez to resign. Others, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), have demurred on the matter while acknowledging the seriousness of the allegations.

“The beauty about the United States is the rule of law. Everyone’s innocent until proven guilty,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told reporters on Tuesday afternoon. “And the only thing I can tell you is this is between the people in New Jersey and Sen. Bob Menendez.”

“I’m not going to criticize the way he deals with it,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) said. “He’s facing the hardest conflict of his life. … I can’t opine on how he defends himself or if he doesn’t resign. Let’s see what happens.”

More than half of GOP senators have not weighed in yet, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), the latter of whom offered a “no comment” when asked for a Menendez reaction on Tuesday afternoon. Of the Republicans who opted to comment, none called on the Democratic senator to resign.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that while the charges are “serious and troubling,” Menendez’s fate should be decided by a jury. He also pointed to the Justice Department’s “troubling record of failure and corruption in cases against public figures, from Ted Stevens to Bob McDonnell to Donald Trump to Bob Menendez the last time around.”

“Senator Menendez has a right to test the government’s evidence in court, just like any other citizen,” he added. “He should be judged by jurors and New Jersey’s voters, not by Democratic politicians who now view him as inconvenient to their hold on power.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who serves with Menendez on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, echoed that position, writing on the social media site: “The allegations against the Senior Senator from New Jersey are nasty & the evidence offered difficult to explain away. But in America guilt is decided by a jury, not politicians in fear of their party losing a Senate seat.”

Sens. Todd Young (R-IN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Ted Cruz (R-TX), J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) all separately condemned the allegations themselves while noting that Menendez’s fate lies with the jury and New Jersey voters.

“I think that the judicial process ought to play out, and then in 2024 it’s up to the electorate. That’s the way we do things in America,” Grassley told the Washington Examiner late Tuesday. “But I want to make it very clear, whether it’s with Menendez or anybody else, bribery is wrong.”

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) told reporters that senators “don’t have a say” in the Menendez matter “at this stage of the game, so we have to be prepared to work with him if he’s still here.”

Asked if the New Jersey Democrat could still be an effective senator, Rounds said: “I think it’s gonna be challenging.”

The position makes sense for a number of reasons. First, the GOP’s current 2024 front-runner is former President Donald Trump, who faces 91 criminal counts in 4 separate cases. None of these lawmakers want to be accused of hypocrisy by calling for Menendez to step aside and then voting for Trump, should he be the party’s nominee next year.

The second relates to the party’s quest to take back the Senate next year. Democrats currently control the chamber by a slim 51-49 margin, meaning Republicans only need to net two seats to win back control.

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Should Menendez reject calls to resign from within his own party and instead run for reelection next year, he’ll enter the race as a weakened candidate, giving Republicans a glimmer of hope at securing a Senate majority through a blue state.

Asked about that prospect while walking into Schumer’s leadership office, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) laughed and replied: “It’s New Jersey.”