Senator Bob Menendez Run Again Retire

Sen. Bob Menendez is promising he will be cleared of charges of bribery and corruption at his trial that starts Midweek, just Republicans in Washington are launching an aggressive entrada now to get his colleagues to pressure him to resign if convicted.

The effort past the Republican National Committee will be aimed at the New Jersey senator's boyfriend Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York; senators running for re-ballot in states that President Trump won final yr; and those with potential aspirations for the presidency in 2020, such as Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Booker called the GOP campaign "offensive."

Republicans want to brand certain Menendez would not remain in office while awaiting sentencing or appealing his conviction because New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie, would become to name an acting senator if there is a vacancy earlier Christie's term ends in mid-January.

That would requite the GOP a 53rd seat in the Senate at least until the midterm elections are held in 2018. New Bailiwick of jersey has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972, and the Democrat vying to succeed Christie, Phil White potato, had a atomic number 82 of 27 percentage points in a July poll over Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, the Republican nominee.

If Menendez is convicted and refuses to leave office, the Constitution gives the Senate the power to remove him with a two-thirds vote — a 67-vote tally that would require 15 Democrats to join all 52 Republicans. The final New Jersey senator convicted of corruption in office, Harrison Williams, was bedevilled in May 1981 but did not resign until March 1982, as the Senate was preparing to expel him.

The GOP pressure level entrada includes ads on social media that highlight how Democrats, including and so-senator Barack Obama of Illinois, said in 2008 that Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, needed to resign afterwards he was convicted of corruption.

Stevens was just the 5th senator in history convicted while in part. The conviction came in October 2008 during a re-election campaign in which Stevens was defeated, but he continued to serve until his term ended the following January. Stevens' confidence was overturned prior to sentencing after a Justice Department investigation constitute prosecutorial misconduct.

For Menendez, Republicans are setting up a war room to track coverage of the trial and disseminate any potentially embarrassing details that emerge. The party will likewise take "trackers" endeavour to become senators in their home states say whether they desire Menendez to stay.

"Convicted felons tin can't even vote in many parts of the country, but Democrats are going to let one keep voting in the Us Senate?" said Michael Ahrens, an RNC spokesman. "If Democrats don't call for a convicted felon to resign immediately and instead strength taxpayers to keep paying his bacon, that'due south a debate we're gear up to take."

Circumvoluted:Stile: As Menendez' trial looms, both parties plot for his seat

Story and so far:Bob Menendez trial: Timeline of events leading up to the corruption trial

The facts:The trial of Sen. Bob Menendez: What yous demand to know

Booker said his office and Menendez'south staff are working closely on Senate business organisation this month, including efforts to secure funding for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River. He said he had not heard of an effort to get Democrats to plough on Menendez.

"I observe that a bit offensive," Booker said. "We withal hold true to the principle in this country that yous're innocent until proven guilty and to even engage in that kind of hypothetical, I think, is unfair and incorrect... I'chiliad not going to entertain what's happening after this trial."

Menendez, 63, was accused in a 2015 indictment of using his function to benefit the personal and business interests of co-defendant and longtime friend Salomon Melgen, 63, of North Palm Beach, Fla. Melgen, a wealthy ophthalmologist, allegedly paid bribes in the form of luxury travel, including flights on his private plane to his villa in a Dominican resort, and more than $700,000 in contributions to super PACs and political committees that helped Menendez go re-elected in 2012.

In a radio interview in Michigan on Wednesday, RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel said the trial deserves more public attention because of the charges involved.

"It is astounding to look at the counts against him and the bribery counts against him," she said. "He took 19 complimentary rides with this gentleman, he helped get visas for his girlfriend, this big donor."

Menendez and Melgen have pleaded not guilty and tried with about no success for more than than 2 years to have courts, up to the U.S. Supreme Court, throw out the indictment. The trial is expected to last two months, and if Menendez is convicted, he volition likely appeal. Legal experts say he may benefit from a 2016 Supreme Courtroom ruling that overturned the conviction of the onetime governor of Virginia by narrowing the definition of bribery, as well as an earlier court ruling that said contributions to super PACs are non corrupting to officials because the money is spent independently of their campaigns.

"Senator Menendez has said he's going  to continue working on behalf of the people of New Jersey who entrusted him with this office until he no longer decides to do and then," said Menendez spokesman Michael Soliman. "He's going to vote when his vote is needed, he's going to continue to travel the state with his colleague, Senator Booker, fighting on behalf of all New Jerseyans."

Menendez is preparing to run for re-election in 2018, and he had $3.seven meg in his campaign account on June 30. No Republican has yet announced plans to claiming him.

The national Republican effort is partnering with New Jersey'southward GOP to try to put pressure on Murphy every bit he seeks to supervene upon Christie, likewise as Booker and Menendez.

As of last week, nonetheless, Christie himself had not jumped on lath, saying that Menendez "deserves a presumption of innocence."

"We'll see what happens in this trial.  Nosotros don't know if in that location'due south fifty-fifty going to be a vacancy," Christie said last week on MSNBC. "Bob Menendez, we've had enough of political differences and policy differences with over the years. He deserves the presumption of innocence."

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Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/05/gop-launches-aggressive-effort-pressure-bob-menendez-resign-if-convicted/632390001/

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