White House concedes Menendez charges ‘a serious matter’

The White House welcomed Sen. Bob Menendez‘s (D-NJ) decision to relinquish control of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as the senator defends himself from corruption charges.

“I’m going to be very clear: This is a serious matter. We see this as a serious matter,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday. “We believe [the] senator stepping down from his chairmanship was the right thing to do, obviously, the right thing to do.”

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But Jean-Pierre would not publicly say whether President Joe Biden believes Menendez should resign from Congress altogether.

“As it relates to anything else, any decision he has to make, that’s certainly going to be up to him and the Senate leadership to decide,” she said. “But of course, we see this as a serious matter, and I’m just going to leave it there for now.”

Hours earlier, Menendez reiterated his innocence to another group of reporters, this time in Union City, New Jersey.

“The allegations leveled against me are just that: allegations,” he said. “I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I will still be New Jersey’s senior senator.”

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Menendez is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday after prominent Democrats, including Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), called on him to stand down from office.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine, were indicted last week on charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion concerning, among other possible crimes, accepting money from the Egyptian government and three Jersey businessmen in exchange for favorable federal policies.