WASHINGTON — Two more Pennsylvania Democratic members of Congress called Tuesday for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez to resign.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and U.S. Rep. Summer Lee followed U.S. Sen. John Fetterman in demanding that Mr. Menendez, D-N.J., step down following his indictment on bribery charges.
“While he is entitled to the presumption of innocence, serving in public office is a privilege that demands a higher standard of conduct,” tweeted Mr. Casey, D-Pa. “Senator Menendez should resign.”
Earlier Tuesday, Ms. Lee, D-Swissvale, also called for Mr. Menendez’s resignation.
“Corruption is corruption,” she said. “Bribery is bribery.”
In her statement, Ms. Lee criticized U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, both under fire for taking undisclosed trips with conservative billionaires, and said that Democrats needed to call out their own as well for unethical behavior.
“We can’t talk about holding Thomas and Alito accountable for selling out our freedoms for luxury vacations and private jet flights if we fail to hold a senator accountable for selling out his chairmanship to a dictator gifting gold bars and cash to keep military aid flowing to Egypt as its government violates human rights,” Ms. Lee said. “Menendez is, of course, owed due process, but the American people are owed trust in our institutions. Our fight against right-wing fascism depends on that trust.”
Mr. Fetterman, D-Pa., said Tuesday that he hoped “to see my colleagues fully address the alleged systemic corruption of Senator Menendez with the same vigor and velocity they brought to concerns about our dress code.”
And Joe Calvello, a spokesman for Mr. Fetterman, told the news website The Messenger that the senator would return the campaign contribution he received from Mr. Menendez “ “in envelopes stuffed with $100 bills.”
A 39-page indictment unsealed Friday charged Mr. Menendez and his wife Nadine with taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz and cash found stuffed in envelopes, in exchange for taking steps to help business associates and the Egyptian government.
He said Monday that he would not resign, and that he would wait for “all the facts to be presented.”
