Sen. Cory Booker on Tuesday said fellow New Jersey Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez should relinquish his seat after being indicted on federal bribery charges.
Booker issued a lengthy statement on social media: "The details of the allegations against Senator Menendez are of such a nature that the faith and trust of New Jerseyans as well as those he must work with in order to be effective have been shaken to the core.
"As Senator Menendez prepares to mount his legal defense, he has stated that he will not resign. Senator Menendez fiercely asserts his innocence and it is therefore understandable that he believes stepping down is patently unfair. But I believe this is a mistake."
Booker added that "stepping down is not an admission of guilt but an acknowledgment that holding public office often demands tremendous sacrifices at great personal cost."
"I believe stepping down is best for those Senator Menendez has spent his life serving," Booker wrote.
Menendez defiantly pushed back against federal corruption charges on Monday, saying nearly half a million dollars in cash authorities found in his home was from his personal savings, not from bribes, and was on hand for emergencies.
Menendez, the influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he believed he'd be cleared of charges that he took cash and gold in illegal exchange for helping Egypt and New Jersey business associates.
In 2015, Menendez was indicted in New Jersey on bribery charges in what federal prosecutors called a scheme between the senator and a wealthy eye doctor to trade political favors for gifts worth close to $1 million, The New York Times reported. Menendez's corruption trial ended in a mistrial in November 2017.
In his statement Tuesday, Booker said he found the new allegations "hard to reconcile with the person I know."
"It is not surprising to me that Senator Menendez is again determined to mount a vigorous defense," Booker said. "And I still believe he, like anyone involved with our criminal justice system, deserves out presumption of innocence until proven guilty. A jury of his peers will make the ultimate decision as to whether he is criminally guilty."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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