Booker says he'll lead Menendez expulsion effort – New Jersey Globe

If Bob Menendez rejects calls for his resignation, Cory Booker will head up a move to expel him from the United States Senate.

“He must stand up now and leave the Senate. He must do that. And if he refuses to do that, I will lead that effort to make sure that he’s removed from the Senate,” Booker said in an interview on MSNBC last night.  “It is the just thing to do.”

A jury on Tuesday convicted Menendez of sixteen counts of bribery, conspiracy, extortion, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, conspiracy, and acting as a foreign agent.

“This is reprehensible behavior that he’s been convicted of…doing things for foreign governments that should chill a lot of folks for what he’s been convicted of,” Booker said of his New Jersey colleague.  “This is enough. He should step down. He needs to step down right now.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called or Menendez’s resignation – something he had not previously done – but not for his expulsion.

But two Democratic senators facing tough re-election fights this year, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, said they would back a move to expel Menendez from the Senate.  Both had called for his resignation after he was indicted last fall.

“Public service is a sacred trust and Senator Menendez has broken that trust,” Casey said on social media.  “Now that a jury of his peers has found him guilty on all 16 charges, including acting as a foreign agent, Senator Menendez should resign or face expulsion from the Senate.”

The Senate doesn’t take the expulsion route easily; 14 of the 15 senators expelled since 1789 were tossed for backing the confederacy; no senator has been expelled since 1862.

Expulsion required a two-thirds vote.

Another senator from New Jersey was almost expelled in 1982.

Harrison A. Williams, Jr., was convicted on federal bribery and conspiracy charges related to the ABSCAM scandal in 1981 and remained in the Senate for more than ten months, resigning just as his colleagues were on the verge of expelling him.

Bill Bradley, the other senator from New Jersey, stood by Williams and refused to call for his resignation following his conviction.

At the end of the fifth day of the Senate expulsion trial, Bradley announced that he would vote to expel Williams.  The loss of Bradley tipped the scales; with a vote near and without the support to avoid being expelled, Williams, for the first time, hinted that resignation was an option. He resigned the following day.

Like Williams, Menendez continued to maintain his innocence, predicting he will be successful in appealing Tuesday’s jury verdict.

“I have never violated my public oath,” Menendez said following his conviction.