Fetterman Calls On Senate To Expel Menendez

Topline

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) called on his fellow senators to expel New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez from congress Thursday after a new superseding federal indictment alleged Menendez acted as a foreign agent.

Menendez was charged Thursday with acting as a foreign agent.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty

Key Facts

Fetterman released a statement Thursday saying Menendez should not be a senator anymore and that he “should have been gone long ago.”

The Pennsylvania senator said that the Senate could not have an “alleged foreign agent” among its members.

Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who said he plans to run for Menendez’s seat in 2024, also called for the senator to be expelled from congress.

Expulsion requires two-thirds majority vote in the Senate.

Menendez’s spokesperson said in a statement to Forbes that the senator has only ever been loyal to one country, the U.S., and that “piling new charge upon new charge does not make the allegation true.”

Surprising Fact

The last time a senator was expelled was during the Civil War. The Senate has only expelled 15 members since 1789, and 14 of them were expelled for backing the Confederacy during the Civil War, according to the Senate website. More often than not, once the Senate begins the expulsion process, the representative in question has resigned or chosen not to run for reelection before the expulsion process has been completed. The most recent case of expulsion was in 1995 when senators considered expelling Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) for sexual misconduct and abuse of power, but Packwood resigned before the process was completed.

Key Background

A federal grand jury in Manhattan announced a superseding indictment Thursday alleging that Menendez accepted bribes from officials in Egypt in exchange for allegedly providing sensitive information to the U.S. government to help the government of Egypt. Prosecutors updated their indictment to explicitly allege that Menendez violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires individuals to register with the U.S. government if they want to act as “an agent of a foreign principal.” Since Menendez is a member of Congress, however, he is not eligible to act as a foreign agent. Between January 2018 and June 2022, Menendez’s wife Nadine Menendez and Wael Hana, a New Jersey businessman, allegedly introduced the senator to Egyptian military officials to establish a “corrupt agreement” that resulted in the Menendezes getting hundreds of thousands of dollars. Before Thursday’s updated indictment, the senator and his wife were charged with three counts including conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right and conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. The Menendezes were said to have accepted bribes in the form of gold, money, a luxury car and home mortgage payments. Both Menendez and his wife pleaded not guilty. Menendez has maintained his innocence.

What To Watch For

Menendez’s trial on the bribery charges is scheduled for May 6.

What We Don’t Know

It still remains unclear if Menendez will run for reelection. His term expires in January 2025.