News — Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips tells me that Sen. Bob Menendez should resign in the face of corruption charges, becoming first Dem lawmaker to do so.
“I'm appalled,” he said, adding that Dem leaders should “absolutely” push him out pic.twitter.com/VqHUf4I5S7

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 22, 2023

“First of all, everybody’s innocent until proven guilty, thank goodness, still in our country. But I’m appalled. Anybody who pays attention, I don’t care your politics, Democrat or Republican, you should be appalled,” Phillips told Raju. “A member of Congress who appears to have broken the law is someone who I believe should resign.”‘

Phillips then pointed at Rep. George Santos (R-NY), another member of Congress who faces criminal charges, and argued he should resign. “I’m a Democrat, so is Senator Menendez. But based on what I have seen, I’m disappointed. Yes, I think he should resign,” Phillips added, arguing that standing against corruption should trump partisan affiliation.

[Philips goes on to say that Democrat leadership should lean on Menendez to resign. That’s a pretty safe call; Menendez has to run again next year if he plans to stick around, and this almost guarantees a big primary challenge. If Menendez resigns, NJ governor Phil Murphy would appoint another Democrat in his place and that would last until the general election. In other words, Democrats have much less risk with a Menendez resignation than if he sticks around and runs again while being tried for corruption and bribery. They may need to kick in a few gold bars to get Menendez to leave that quietly, though. — Ed]