Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) to resign from the Senate after a jury in New York convicted him on 16 counts of bribery, extortion and honest services wire fraud.
“In light of this guilty verdict, Sen. Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” Schumer said in a statement.
The Democratic leader, however, stopped short of threatening to bring an expulsion resolution to the Senate floor, which could pass with an overwhelming majority given the severity of the crimes.
Menendez is expected to appeal the verdict, according to legal experts. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 29 and faces decades in prison.
Schumer earlier this year declined to call on Menendez to resign, even though more than half the Senate Democratic Conference urged him to step down from office after federal prosecutors accused him of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and other gifts.
Menendez voluntarily agreed to step down as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in September after prosecutors unveiled the charges.
“The Senate has certain standards that we must live up to. I am very disappointed that Sen. Menendez has not lived up to those standards,” Schumer told reporters in March.
The leader had repeated that line several times when asked about Menendez’s continued attendance at classified briefings and private caucus meetings.
The veteran New Jersey senator has missed work in the Senate for the past several weeks to attend his criminal trial in New York.
Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), the Democratic nominee for Senate in New Jersey, joined Schumer in calling for Menendez to vacate his seat immediately.
“This is a sad and somber day for New Jersey and our country. Our public servants should work for the people, and today we saw the people judge Senator Menendez as guilty and unfit to serve,” Kim said in a statement.
“I called on Senator Menendez to step down when these charges were first made public, and now that he has been found guilty, I believe the only course of action for him is to resign his seat immediately. The people of New Jersey deserve better,” he said.
Updated at 1:49 p.m.