US Senator Bob Menendez resigned on Tuesday after his conviction on corruption charges including bribery and acting as a foreign agent, bowing to pressure from fellow Democrats to step down.
Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will appoint a replacement for Menendez, who has represented the state in the Senate since 2006 and served as chairman of the foreign relations committee.
He resigned from the committee after being charged last year.
Menendez, 70, was found guilty on July 16 by a jury in Manhattan federal court on all 16 criminal counts he faced – which also included obstruction of justice, wire fraud and extortion – after a nine-week trial.
Two co-defendants also were convicted.
Numerous Democrats had called for Menendez to resign, including Mr Murphy, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, and Cory Booker, New Jersey's other senator.
“If he refuses to vacate his office, I call on the US Senate to vote to expel him,” Mr Murphy said after the verdict last week.
Menendez's resignation letter was read out on the Senate floor.
The case centred on what prosecutors called bribery schemes in which he and his wife Nadine Menendez accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and car and mortgage payments from three businessmen.
In a 2022 raid on the Menendez home, FBI agents confiscated gold bars worth nearly $150,000 and more than $480,000 in cash, some of it stuffed into boots and jackets emblazoned with the senator's name.
Menendez, in exchange, steered billions of dollars in US aid to Egypt and tried to influence the criminal prosecutions of two of the businessmen, prosecutors said.
During the case, prosecutors told of instances where Menendez helped the businessmen, saying his efforts to fast-track the delivery of $99 million in helicopter ammunition to Egypt and close communication with senior Egyptian officials showed he was serving Cairo's interests.
Menendez plans to appeal.
US District Judge Sidney Stein set Menendez's sentencing for October 29, a week before the November 5 election in which he is running as an independent for another six-year term in the Senate.
The resignation will temporarily reduce the Democratic majority in the Senate to 50-49 until Mr Murphy's appointment is sworn in to finish Menendez's current term, which ends in January.
The trial was his second, after one in 2017 ended in a deadlocked jury. He was, however, censured by the Senate ethics committee for accepting gifts from a wealthy, long-time friend in exchange for official favours.
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Director: Romany Saad
Starring: Mirfat Amin, Boumi Fouad and Tariq Al Ibyari
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Profile
Name: Carzaty
Founders: Marwan Chaar and Hassan Jaffar
Launched: 2017
Employees: 22
Based: Dubai and Muscat
Sector: Automobile retail
Funding to date: $5.5 million
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
Listen to Extra Time
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if you go
The flights
Fly to Rome with Etihad (www.etihad.ae) or Emirates (www.emirates.com) from Dh2,480 return including taxes. The flight takes six hours. Fly from Rome to Trapani with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) from Dh420 return including taxes. The flight takes one hour 10 minutes.
The hotels
The author recommends the following hotels for this itinerary. In Trapani, Ai Lumi (www.ailumi.it); in Marsala, Viacolvento (www.viacolventomarsala.it); and in Marsala Del Vallo, the Meliaresort Dimore Storiche (www.meliaresort.it).
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
Four motivational quotes from Alicia's Dubai talk
“The only thing we need is to know that we have faith. Faith and hope in our own dreams. The belief that, when we keep going we’re going to find our way. That’s all we got.”
“Sometimes we try so hard to keep things inside. We try so hard to pretend it’s not really bothering us. In some ways, that hurts us more. You don’t realise how dishonest you are with yourself sometimes, but I realised that if I spoke it, I could let it go.”
“One good thing is to know you’re not the only one going through it. You’re not the only one trying to find your way, trying to find yourself, trying to find amazing energy, trying to find a light. Show all of yourself. Show every nuance. All of your magic. All of your colours. Be true to that. You can be unafraid.”
“It’s time to stop holding back. It’s time to do it on your terms. It’s time to shine in the most unbelievable way. It’s time to let go of negativity and find your tribe, find those people that lift you up, because everybody else is just in your way.”
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
