Convicted New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said he plans to appeal his conviction on 16 charges ranging from bribery and extortion to obstruction of justice all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
In a July 23 letter to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Menendez said he would resign from the Senate on Aug. 20 but did not admit to any crimes. The Senate confirmed the resignation.
Instead, Menendez said he plans to appeal the ruling, citing concerns that he would not be able to fully preserve his legal rights if the Senate Ethics Committee were to conduct a hearing review and likely recommend the New Jersey senator be expelled or censured.
“I intend to appeal the jury’s verdict all the way to the Supreme Court, but I do not want the Senate to be embroiled in a lengthy process that distracts from its important work,” he wrote.
“Furthermore, the facts before the Ethics Committee are not privileged, so even if the appeal is successful, my rights would not be protected,” he explained. “This is evidenced by the fact that the committee’s staff director and lead counsel were called to testify at my trial.”
Menendez, who was appointed to the Senate in 2006 to finish out the term of Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), said he was proud of “the many accomplishments I’ve accomplished on behalf of New Jersey,” including leading the federal effort to help the state recover from Superstorm Sandy.
The Senate Ethics Committee announced Monday that it would begin an investigative review of Menendez’s conviction, which would provide the basis for a vote to expel or censure him in the future.
Ethics Committee Chairman Chris Coons (Delaware Democrat) and Vice Chairman James Lankford (Oklahoma Republican) said in a joint statement that the committee plans to “expeditiously complete its review.”
