"He has to go": US Democratic Senator Fetterman calls for expulsion of Menendez from Senate

Following the ouster of George Santos from the US House of Representatives on Friday, Democratic Senator John Fetterman called for the expulsion of Senator Bob Menendez, who is currently facing bribery and conspiracy charges.  

"He has to go," Fetterman, representing Pennsylvania, Anadolu reports citing him speaking with the broadcaster ABC."If you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate?".

"I think the more important picture is, is that we have a colleague in the Senate that actually did much more sinister and serious kinds of things," he said of Menendez.

"Menendez, I think, is really a Senator for Egypt, you know, not in New Jersey," he said. "So I really think he needs to go".

Fetterman's remarks came shortly after the House of Representatives expelled the New York Congressman in a historic vote, who faced indictments for lying about his background during his 2022 campaign for his seat.

Since his election to the House in 2022, multiple instances emerged of George Santos lying about his background, including the school he attended, his work history, and his mother supposedly being in the World Trade Center on the day of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The ex-congressman currently faces seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, according to an indictment unsealed in May.

On the other hand, Senator Menendez, along with his wife Nadine Arslanian and New Jersey businessman Wael Hana, was charged last month with conspiracy for a public official to act as a foreign agent.

Menendez is accused of accepting bribes to use the power of his office to benefit three businessmen and the Egyptian government, including attempts to influence the outcomes of state and federal investigations, and passing restricted government information to Cairo. He has pleaded not guilty the charges.

Also in September, a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment charging Menendez, his wife, businessmen Fred Daibes, Jose Uribe and Hana with conspiracy to commit bribery, and conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. The senator and his wife are additionally charged with extortion.

The corruption trial is the second during Menendez's decades-long career in public service.