United States Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, convicted in mid-July of corruption, announced he would not run as an "independent", ending a long and influential political career.
"As an independent candidate for the United States Senate for the November election, I am informing you that I wish to withdraw my name from the ballot" in New Jersey, "Bob" Menendez wrote in a letter to his state's elections board posted on social media.
This announcement, which de facto ends a decade-long presence in Congress, comes four days before his effective resignation as Sen.
In late July, the 70-year-old politician announced his resignation for August 20, and New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy appointed his former chief of staff George Helmy to replace him until the end of the term in January
Under pressure to leave the Democratic Party, Bob Menendez announced this summer that he would run for the Senate in the November 5 election as an "independent."
But on July 16, a federal criminal court in Manhattan convicted him on 16 counts, including bribery, conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and obstruction of justice.
Bob Menendez (who rose to fame in Bulgaria a few years ago when he decried corruption in this country, ed.) had favoured three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for money and used his political influence to benefit Egypt and Qatar.
The court condemned "shocking levels of corruption, hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including gold, cash and a Mercedes-Benz car."
The senator, who is appealing, will receive the sentence on October 29. His penalties total 222 years in prison.
Robert Menendez has been a political figure in the United States and abroad for decades: a former chairman of the influential Senate International Relations Committee, a representative from the right wing of the Democratic Party, an opponent of Cuba, where his parents are from, of Venezuela, of China, and with pro-Israel sentiments. I BGNES
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