Embattled Democrat Senator Bob Menendez (NJ) won’t seek reelection in November, but he refuses to resign.
Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine Menendez were charged with obstruction of justice in a new 18-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
The new charges are related to a bribery scheme that involves Egypt and Qatar.
Excerpt from the New York Post:
Embattled New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez will not run for re-election in November, although he still refuses to hand in his resignation, The Post has learned.
“He will not be running,” said a source close to Menendez.
The three-term federal senator, who resigned his powerful position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the initial indictment last year, faces an 18-count indictment — and stiff competition from a group of Democratic primary challengers.
In an interview with Forbes Thursday Menendez said he would not resign, but when asked if he would be running for re-election, he said, “Ah, that’s another question.”
Menendez has been under pressure to resign from both fellow Democrats and Republicans. He faces tough Democratic primary challenges from progressive New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim and the state’s first lady, Tammy Murphy, among others.
In January Menendez was hit with a second superseding indictment for praising Qatar in exchange for luxury watches.
“Menendez provided Daibes with these statements so that Daibes could share them with the Qatari Investor and a Qatari government official associated with the Qatari Investment Company,” the indictment said, according to NBC News.
In October Bob Menendez was charged with acting as a foreign agent in a superseding indictment.
The new indictment filed by a federal grand jury in Manhattan claims Menendez “provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt.”
Nadine Menendez was given a “no-show” or “low-show” job, a Mercedes Benz and other things of value, Damian Williams said.
Special agents discovered $500,000 of cash stuffed into envelopes in closets. “Some of the cash was stuffed in the Senator’s jacket pockets. Some of the envelopes of cash contained Daibes’ fingerprints and Daibes’ DNA,” Williams said at a press conference last month.
Menendez refuses to resign and he is still attending classified briefings.
This story originally appeared on TheGateWayPundit
