Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman wants so badly to boot fellow Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez from the chamber that he says Republicans should help.
He turned to the GOP for help after other Senate Democrats balked at the plan to kick out Mr. Menendez over federal bribery and corruption charges.
“We need to chuck him out, and the Republicans should join us and do the right thing,” Mr. Fetterman recently told reporters.
Mr. Fetterman is the only Democrat supporting expulsion — even though two-thirds of the caucus is calling for Mr. Menendez to resign. However, Republican senators want to stay out of Democrats’ internal squabbling.
“I can tell you my very simple logic and common sense. I don’t think any Republican is going to help them do their own business,” said Sen. Mike Braun, Indiana Republican.
Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson said Democrats should be left to “deal with their own problems.”
Mr. Menendez, New Jersey Democrat, pleaded not guilty on Monday to conspiring to act as a foreign agent to the Egyptian government. That additional charge came just weeks after he pleaded not guilty to related bribery and corruption charges for accepting lavish gifts in exchange for providing sensitive information to benefit New Jersey businessmen and the Egyptian government.
The inability to oust Mr. Menendez is the latest example of how Mr. Menendez has become the Senate version of Rep. George Santos, the House Republican from New York who’s also pled not guilty to an array of federal criminal charges and weathers bipartisan calls for resignation. Only about a half-dozen House Republicans want to expel Mr. Santos, who is charged with identity theft, fraud, and money laundering.
Mr. Menendez is vowing to fight the charges and to remain in office until the end of his term in January 2025. He has not said whether he’ll seek reelection.
“The government is engaged in primitive hunting, by which the predator chases its prey until it’s exhausted and then kills it,” Mr. Menendez said Monday after his plea at the Manhattan federal courthouse. “This tactic won’t work.”
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer is the only Democratic leader not to call for Mr. Menendez’s resignation. The New York senator has admonished Mr. Menendez’s alleged actions as “way, way below” the standard expected of a member of Congress.
Even if Mr. Fetterman managed to convince all 49 Senate Republicans to join forces with him and support expulsion, he would need an additional 17 Democrats to get on board to muster the required two-thirds majority to kick out a fellow senator.
“There’s zero chance I would do that to anybody — if it was Republican or Democrat,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Oklahoma Republican. “I’m not a Menendez fan, obviously, but I’m not putting myself in front of the court.”
Since 1789, just 15 members have been expelled from the Senate, 14 of which occurred from 1861 to 1862 during the Civil War for supporting the Confederacy, according to chamber records.
The Senate considered expulsion in several other cases, including as recently as 1995. However, those proceedings were either dropped or the cases failed to play out before the member resigned. Three of the five who resigned in the face of expulsion were accused of corruption.
Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis said Mr. Schumer needs to run a tighter ship.
“I just have a lot of respect when the party leaders say, ‘We’re going to deal with this,’” Ms. Lummis said. “Otherwise, it takes on this weird partisan overtone.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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