Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, his chamber’s second-highest-ranking Democrat, is now calling for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) to resign following his federal indictment on bribery and a host of other charges.
It’s further erosion of support for Menendez among Senate Democrats, more than half of whom have called for the New Jersey Democrat’s ouster.
“Leaders in New Jersey, including the Governor and my Senate colleague Cory Booker, have made it clear that Sen. Menendez can no longer serve. He should step down,” Durbin, also the Senate Judiciary chair, wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Backdrop : It’s a significant shift for Durbin, following that of another member of Senate Democratic leadership, Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who did not initially call for Menendez to step aside. He said in a weekend interview with CNN that the idea of resignation was “a decision to be made by Sen. Menendez and the people of New Jersey.”
