U.S. Democratic Senators Baldwin, Casey, Tester call for Menendez's resignation

Menendez's legal troubles could complicate his party's efforts to maintain control of the Senate, though New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the seat since 1972. Following the announcement of the charges on Friday, Democratic U.S. Representative Andy Kim said on Saturday he would challenge Menendez for his seat.

U.S. Democratic Senators Tammy Baldwin, Bob Casey and Jon Tester joined a growing number of Democrats on Tuesday in calling for Senator Bob Menendez to resign, after prosecutors charged him and his wife with taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen. Menendez, also a Democrat, said on Monday that he would stay in the Senate and fight the charges.

Democratic Senators John Fetterman, Sherrod Brown and Peter Welch have also called for Menendez to resign, as well as several Democratic elected officials in Menendez's state of New Jersey, including Governor Phil Murphy. If Menendez did resign, Murphy would appoint his temporary successor, and it would be unlikely to change the balance of power in the chamber, where Democrats hold a slim 51-49 majority over Republicans. Menendez's legal troubles could complicate his party's efforts to maintain control of the Senate, though New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the seat since 1972.

Following the announcement of the charges on Friday, Democratic U.S. Representative Andy Kim said on Saturday he would challenge Menendez for his seat. Menendez, a powerful voice on foreign policy who has at times bucked his own party, has stepped down from his role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as required under his party's Senate rules.

U.S. prosecutors said Menendez accepted gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for using his power and influence to aid the government of Egypt and interfere with law enforcement investigations into the businessmen. Wael Hana, one of the businessmen charged with bribing Menendez, is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Manhattan at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on Tuesday, prosecutors said.