Menen­dez tells Sen­ate Democ­rats he won’t resign after bribery indict­ment

Sen. Bob Menen­dez (D‑NJ) told his Sen­ate Demo­c­ra­t­ic col­leagues on Thurs­day that he will not resign despite calls from more than half of the con­fer­ence to do so fol­low­ing his fed­er­al indict­ment on bribery charges.
The embat­tled sen­a­tor did not address his polit­i­cal future in his 15-minute speech to the con­fer­ence, instead vow­ing to defend his inno­cence in court. Sens. Michael Ben­net (D‑CO) and Joe Manchin (D‑WV) told reporters after the meet­ing that Menen­dez wasn’t asked any ques­tions in the room.
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The vast major­i­ty of Sen­ate Democ­rats declined to com­ment on what took place dur­ing the closed-door meet­ing, cit­ing the sen­si­tiv­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion. Of those who demurred, most said that the meet­ing did not change their posi­tion on Menen­dez or the charges.
The mem­bers who did speak after­ward described the meet­ing as emo­tion­al­ly dif­fi­cult. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D‑GA) said there was a “sad” tone in the room, while Sen. Tim Kaine (D‑VA) called the mat­ter an “emo­tion­al” one.
“Look, I’m a pas­tor, so it’s tough to see this kind of thing unfold,” Warnock said while leav­ing the meet­ing. “This is a real human being with a fam­i­ly and loved ones, so my prayers go out to him.”
“It’s emo­tion­al. Peo­ple are try­ing to col­lect their thoughts. I’m very bummed about the entire thing,” Kaine said in response to a ques­tion about mem …