WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who faces federal bribery charges, emerged from a meeting Thursday with his fellow Senate Democrats defiant despite calls for his resignation.
"I will continue to cast votes on behalf of the people of New Jersey as I have for 18 years. And I am sure when they need those votes, they’ll be looking for it, for me to catch those votes," Menendez told reporters after the closed-door luncheon.
Menendez's remarks lasted less than 15 minutes, and no questions were asked once he finished speaking, according to sources and senators who were at the meeting.
Senators listened respectfully, but there was no applause or response from anyone, a source said. Democrats appeared to look at one another waiting for someone to ask the first question of him, but no one ever did, another source said.
“He just basically gave a very compassionate speech,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters, adding that Menendez did not discuss the allegations against him.
Another senator who was in the room said Menendez said he would continue to resist calls for his resignation.
“He went through a lot of background of how he — why he felt as strong as he feels,” the senator said.
During the luncheon, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had asked senators serving on the Ethics Committee to leave the room, as well as its staff members. Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Brian Schatz of Hawaii, who are members of the panel, all stepped out of the meeting around 1:30 p.m., a source in the room said.
Pressure for Menendez to resign has grown since he was indicted last week. As of Thursday afternoon, 30 Senate Democrats — a majority of the caucus — have called on him to step down.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said Menendez's remarks did not change his position.
“I’ve called on him to resign, I spoke to him before I issued my statement, and I really don’t have anything more to say. Certainly I’m not of a different mind now,” Blumenthal told reporters after the meeting.
Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado said, "Obviously, we lost a tremendous amount of trust.”
Menendez and his wife, Nadine, were charged with bribery in connection with allegations that they accepted “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in return for the use of the senator’s influence to enrich three New Jersey businessmen and benefit the Egyptian government.
The charges Menendez faces include conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.
The bribes he and his wife allegedly received included “cash, gold bars, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle and other items of value,” according to the indictment.
On his way into the Capitol on Thursday, Menendez was asked by reporters where the gold bars that federal agents discovered in his New Jersey home came from. "I'll share what I have to share with my colleagues," he said.
Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, the first Senate Democrat to call for Menendez's resignation, said he did not attend the lunch because there is nothing Menendez can say or do except resign.
“It’s a pattern, and he really needs to decide to resign," Fetterman said. “He’s clearly not going to have an honorable exit.”
Menendez has denied all allegations of wrongdoing. He and his wife pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Wednesday in a New York City courtroom. Three other defendants charged in the case have also pleaded not guilty.
On Thursday, the top Democrat in the House implied that it was time for Menendez to go.
"I think that the allegations that have been made against the senator are deeply troubling and should shock the conscience," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters at his weekly news conference. "The senator is entitled to the presumption of innocence, as well as his day in court. At the end of the day, his fate will be decided by a jury of his peers. Yet, it's hard for me to see how the senator can effectively, at this moment, represent the people he's ably served for decades in New Jersey."
