Trenton, NJ – Following the United States Senate Ethics Committee’s severe admonishment of Senator Bob Menendez, GOP leaders NJGOP Chair Doug Steinhardt and Vice Chair Lynda Pagliughi called for the New Jersey Democrat State Committee to assist in forcing Menendez to step down. Other GOP leaders in the legislature called on Senator Menendez to step away.

GOP Senate candidate Bob Hugin released a separate statement earlier calling on Menendez to step down, calling the senior Senator an ’embarrassment to our state and it is time for him to resign.’

“Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on which way is up and which way is down, but yesterday they were able to come together and agree that Bob Menendez is corrupt and issue him an official admonishment,” said Steinhardt. “Menendez has lost the respect of the institution of the Senate and his Senate colleagues. The NJGOP calls on our Democrat counterparts at the New Jersey Democrat State Committee to join us in restoring honor to New Jersey’s U.S. Senate delegation by calling on Senator Menendez to resign.”

Earlier in the week, Steinhardt released a statement saying ‘how New Jersey’s Democratic caucus responds to the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee’s indictment of Nee Jersey’s senior Senator will speak volumes about the character and integrity of the company they keep.’

Vice Chair Pagliughi added, “Enough is enough with Senator Menendez’s stream of embarrassments to our great state. Anyone with common sense can see that he broke the rules by accepting lavish gifts and then used his role as Senator to advance the business interests of his friend, convicted felon, Solomon Melgen. If a bi-partisan group in Washington can come together to scold Menedez, we can do the same in New Jersey. I hope the Democrat State Committee will join us in calling for him to step aside.”

Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean added, “On a bi-partisan basis, members of both parties agree that Bob Menendez is corrupt. The people of New Jersey deserve a level of representation that is far superior to what they are receiving from Senator Menendez. It’s time for him to resign.”

Senate Republican Whip Joe Pennacchio echoed, “Following the admonishment by the Senate Ethics Committee I think that Senator Menendez should give serious thought to not putting New Jersey through the torment of seeing yet another elected official added to a long line of questionable dealings. For New Jersey’s sake, he should resign.”

Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick added, “The bipartisan group of Senators on the Ethics Committee couldn’t be any more clear. It’s time for Menendez to resign.”

Assembly Republican Conference Leader Tony Bucco Jr.  declared,”The unanimous findings of the Senate Ethics Committee, which found that Senator Menendez violated federal law and abused his position, confirms that he’s violated the public trust and no longer deserves to be in public office.”

Finally, Assembly Republican Whip Nancy Munoz said, “The Senate Ethics Committee’s unanimous findings that Senator Menendez broke the law and abused his office confirms what we all suspected, and he should resign.”

CD2 candidate earlier today called for Menendez’s resignation, and called on Democratic frontrunner Senator Jeff Van Drew to request the same.  

After the Senate Ethics Committee released the admonishment letter, Menendez counsel Marc Elias released a statement reading ‘many of the findings in the letter were not only contradicted by the presiding judge and rejected by a jury, but the proceedings clearly demonstrated that there was no violation of the law’, noting that the DOJ dropped the ‘baseless’ charges in January.