Senator John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) is daring Senator Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) to run for re-election in light of the current indictment Menendez is facing.
Several months ago, Fetterman called for Menendez to resign after he and his wife were charged with bribery. Prosecutors claim that Menendez and his wife took bribes of cash, gold, a car, and other items in exchange for helping several New Jersey businessmen who asked Bob to help make them wealth, and to help the government of Egypt.
Later on, prosecutors said that Menendez was also bribed to help the government of Qatar.
Earlier today on CNN’s “The Lead” with Jake Tapper, Fetterman dared Menendez to run saying,
“I’m daring Menendez to run for reelection.”
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Fetterman went on to tell Tapper,
“He has the right to have his day in court, absolutely, but he doesn’t have the right to necessarily be a senator, and he definitely doesn’t have the right to be in classified briefings that involve nations that he is now credibly accused of being a foreign agent of. It’s outrageous and I truly can’t understand why anybody would be okay with that.”
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In a resolution proposed by Fetterman this week, he said that a Senator who is accused of unlawful disclosure or handling of classified information, acting as a foreign agent, or compromising the security of the United States should not be allowed to attend classified hearings, review classified information, serve on any committee, and other restrictions.
Menendez has plead not-guilty to the charges and denied any wrong doing, and claimed that prosecutors were persecuting him.
In a statement to the press in September, Menendez said,
“I understand how deeply concerning this can be, however, the allegations leveled against me are just that, allegations. I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I will still be the New Jersey’s senior Senator.”
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You can watch Menendez give his statement on C-SPAN.
Menendez has not decided if he is running for re-election or not, but said he will let the public know if he will.
There are currently four candidates who have declared for the race: New Jersey’s First Lady, Tammy Murphy, U.S. Representative Andy Kim, Larry Hamm, and Patricia Campos-Medina.
Fetterman has endorsed Kim in the race.
