Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) said late on Thursday that he will not run for re-election in the Democrat primary, which comes as he faces multiple felony charges stemming for a corruption investigation involving foreign nations.
“I will not file for the Democratic primary this June,” Menendez said in a video posted to social media. “I am hopeful that my exoneration will take place this summer and allow me to pursue my candidacy as an independent Democrat in a general election.”
Menendez and his wife were indicted on federal charges in September for allegedly accepting bribes from three businessmen in exchange for actions that he took as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. According to the DOJ, the bribes were intended to protect the businessmen and to benefit Egypt.
Menendez was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, and conspiracy for a public official to act as a foreign agent.
Prosecutors later said in a revised indictment that he also allegedly used his clout to help a friend secure a multi-million dollar investment deal from the Qatari government in-part by taking actions that benefited Qatar.
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In a subsequent superseding indictment, Menendez was charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, public official acting as a foreign agent, bribery, extortion and honest services wire fraud.
Menendez has denied any wrongdoing and has instead cast the investigation as another attempt by federal law enforcement to take him down after he previously faced a corruption trial.
“Not content – or capable – of meeting those facts fairly at trial, the government has now falsely alleged a cover-up and obstruction,” Menendez said earlier this month.
“The latest charge reveals far more about the government than it says about me,” he added. “It says that the prosecutors are afraid of the facts, scared to subject their charges to the fair-minded scrutiny of a jury, and unconstrained by any sense of justice or fair play. It says, once and for all, that they will stop at nothing in their zeal to get me.”
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