Sen. Bob Menendez to Resign Following Conviction

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) arrives to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee reception at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Nov. 2, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON—Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has announced that he will resign from the Senate on Aug. 20 after he was recently convicted on all counts in a corruption trial.

He submitted his resignation on July 23.

Mr. Menendez, a former chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was on July 16 found guilty on 16 charges, including bribery and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. The senator maintains his innocence and has vowed to appeal the conviction.

“While I fully intend to appeal the jury’s verdict, all the way and including to the Supreme Court, I do not want the Senate to be involved in a lengthy process that will detract from its important work,” he wrote to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy in a letter.

Mr. Menendez resigned as a Senate Ethics Committee initiated a review that could have paved the way for expulsion from the upper congressional chamber. A two-thirds majority is required for expulsion.

In the letter, the senator said he was proud of his accomplishments, including helping Hurricane Sandy victims and getting federal funding from a rail tunnel linking New York and New Jersey.

“These successes led you, Governor, to call me the ‘Indispensable Senator,’” he wrote.

Mr. Menendez, 70, has served in the Senate since 2006 and in Congress overall since 1993. He previously served in the New Jersey Senate, the New Jersey General Assembly, and as mayor of Union City, New Jersey.

Democrats, along with several independents, still control the Senate 50–49 after Mr. Menendez’s resignation.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has confirmed he will appoint a successor to serve out the remainder of Mr. Menendez’s term until Jan. 3, 2025. The governor didn’t name a successor.

Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) will face hotel entrepreneur Curtis Bashaw, a Republican, in the November general election for the blue-leaning senate seat.

Mr. Kim launched his Senate run shortly after the indictment against Mr. Menendez came down in September.

“Senator Menendez has made the right decision for New Jersey by agreeing to step down next month,” Mr. Kim posted on X, previously Twitter. “It’s time for New Jersey to move forward. We have big challenges ahead of us, and we can only tackle them if we show the people of our state that this is the beginning of a new era of politics built on integrity, service, and delivering for all families.”

In a nine-week corruption trial, federal prosecutors alleged that, while he was still chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Menendez and his wife Nadine received payoffs from New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes to provide influence for their interests, and those of the Egyptian government.

Mr. Hana and Mr. Daibes were convicted of 18 charges; Mr. Uribe pleaded guilty to seven counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy.

Mrs. Menendez has also been charged and her trial is postponed pending her recovery from breast cancer surgery.

After his conviction, Mr. Menendez denied all of those allegations, saying “I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.”

Mr. Menendez was also put on trial for federal corruption charges in 2015 but his case ended in a mistrial and prosecutors declined to try it again.

The senator is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 29. He faces 20 years in prison on the most grave charges.

The Associated Press and Stacy Robinson contributed to this report.