It’s probably fair to say that Sen. Bob Menendez has had better days. The New Jersey Democrat was already facing a serious criminal indictment when the Justice Department announced new charges, accusing the senator of accepting bribes on behalf of a foreign government and acting as a foreign agent, even while leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Menendez has denied any wrongdoing, and he pleaded not guilty in court. In a statement that came in response to the superseding indictment, the longtime lawmaker said, “Piling new charge upon new charge does not make the allegations true,” Menendez said. “The facts haven’t changed, only a new charge. It is an attempt to wear someone down and I will not succumb to this tactic.”
The statement apparently proved unpersuasive to his most vigorous critic on Capitol Hill. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported:
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman stepped up his ethics campaign against fellow U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez on Thursday, calling on colleagues to expel the embattled New Jersey Democrat after he was indicted on charges that he acted as a foreign agent for Egypt. “We cannot have an alleged foreign agent in the United States Senate,” Mr. Fetterman said in a statement. “This is not a close call.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat added, “It is time for every one of my colleagues in the Senate to join me in expelling Senator Menendez.”
Fetterman’s effort remains a longshot: To expel a sitting senator would require two-thirds support in the chamber. While Menendez has many critics — most of the Senate Democratic conference has called on him resign — a 67-vote majority is a high hurdle to clear.
Indeed, it’s made more difficult by the fact that a grand total of zero Republican senators have joined the list of detractors. I wondered if the latest allegations might cause GOP members to reconsider, but so far, that has not happened.
It’s worth understanding why.
Right off the bat, there’s an ideological dimension to this: When it comes to foreign policy, Menendez is to the right of most of his Democratic colleagues. Senate Republicans are happy to have him stick around because, on matters related to international affairs, they agree with him quite a bit — and no matter which Democrat replaced him, the GOP would almost certainly disagree with him or her more.
There’s also an electoral dimension to the controversy: Republicans want Menendez to persevere because if the New Jersey Democrat runs for re-election, and somehow wins his party’s nomination, it would create an enticing pick-up opportunity for the GOP. Even if Menendez were to fall short in a primary, for Republicans, there might be an upside to having the words “Democrat” and “corruption allegations” appear in the same sentence in months’ worth of news reports. But let’s not overlook the broader implications: If Republicans were to agree that the criminal allegations surrounding Menendez leave him unfit for office, it would almost certainly mean that Donald Trump is equally unsuitable for positions of public trust. For most Democrats, there’s no inconsistency to reconcile: They’re comfortable saying Trump has disqualified himself and showing Menendez the door. But for the GOP, it’s apparently easier to stay silent on Menendez than try to explain why the senator should resign but the suspected felon/Republican frontrunner should return to the White House.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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