Press: Give Menendez a fair trial; but take away his Senate seat

It’s hard to shock Washington. After all, this is the town that remembers then-Rep. William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson (D-La.) caught with $90,000 stashed in the freezer of his condo’s refrigerator in 2005. We saw video of then-Sen. Harrison Williams (D-N.J.) in 1980s accepting bribes from FBI agents dressed as Arab sheiks. We witnessed then-Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in 2008 convicted by a jury for accepting more than $250,000 in gifts from an Alaskan contractor — a conviction later overturned for prosecutorial misconduct. 

But Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) did manage to shock Washington last week when details of the indictment brought against him by federal prosecutors were revealed. I’ve never seen anything quite as jaw-dropping. 

The evidence presented by prosecutors makes a strong case that the senator and his wife were peddling clout for money. Found in their home: more than $100,000 worth of gold bars; $550,000 in cash, some of it stuffed in envelopes with fingerprints of one of three businessmen with whom Menendez was allegedly swapping cash for services, and some of it stashed in the pockets of a jacket on which Menendez’s name and the senatorial seal were embroidered in gold. And, parked out front, another gift: a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible. 

Menendez has been down this road before. In 2015, federal prosecutors charged him with doing political favors for a wealthy eye doctor in exchange for lavish gifts worth close to $1 million, including Caribbean vacations. When that case ended in a hung jury, Menendez reassumed his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his Democratic colleagues, who had refrained from condemning him while he was on trial, breathed a sigh of relief. 

But, apparently, Menendez had barely de-boarded one luxury scandal train before he boarded another. And this time around, reaction from fellow Democrats has been mixed.  

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who by law would appoint his successor, was the first to call for Menendez to resign his seat. As of this writing, so have Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and five Democratic members of Congress: New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Pennsylvania’s Summer Lee, California’s Zoe Lofgren, Massachusetts’s Seth Moulton, and New Jersey’s Andy Kim, who announced plans to challenge Menendez in the 2024 primary. But, for now, most Democrats, starting with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), have taken the easy way out: not defending Menendez, but insisting he has a right to a “fair trial.”

There are two things to say about that response. First, it’s a stark contrast to the way Republicans responded to charges filed against former President Trump. Indeed, Trump’s alleged misdeeds — stealing presidential documents and attempting to overthrow the United States government — are far more serious than taking cash for political favors. But leading Republicans not only defend Trump, but they also attack the Justice Department for having a “dual system” of justice, accuse prosecutors of having a political agenda and threaten to defund the FBI. 

While it’s refreshing that Democrats refrain from attacking Attorney General Merrick Garland for indicting one of their own and instead call for a fair trial, that’s not good enough. Yes, Bob Menendez, like any other American, has a constitutional right to a fair trial. But he has no constitutional right to a seat in the United States Senate. By a two-thirds vote, the Senate can expel any member anytime “for disorderly behavior” — and that phrase fits Menendez’s conduct. 

Menendez has proven unworthy to serve in the United States Senate. Leader Schumer and other Democratic senators should demand that he resign immediately. If Menendez refuses to do so, the Senate should vote to expel him. 

Press hosts “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”