Can Chuck Schumer solve his growing Bob Menendez problem? Will he? | Stile

Chuck Schumer now has a Bob Menendez problem.

Life would be a lot easier for Schumer, the New York Democrat who serves as Senate majority leader, if Menendez, the senior senator from New Jersey, would resign and fight his second corruption indictment in eight years far from the prying cameras and reporters swarming Capitol Hill.

That's also what more than 30 fellow Democratic senators would prefer Menendez to do, especially a bunch running for reelection in 2024 in battleground states. The last thing they want wafting over their campaigns in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Montana is the toxic stench of another tawdry Menendez corruption case.

Yet Menendez, who was accused, along with his wife, Nadine, of collecting more than $500,000 in bribes in exchange for, among other things, secretly assisting the Egyptian government, doubled down on his defiance Thursday after privately meeting with the Senate Democrats. He's not going anywhere.

"I'll continue to cast votes for the people of New Jersey as I have done for 18 years," he told reporters while he strode toward the sanctuary of an elevator at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. "And I'm sure that when they need those votes, they will be looking for me to cast them."

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What can Schumer really do?

Schumer, known more for being a consensus builder than a strong-arming Senate boss in the mold of Lyndon B. Johnson, expressed disappointment Wednesday at Menendez's alleged conduct.

“We all know that … for senators, there’s a much, much higher standard," Schumer said. "And clearly when you read the indictment, Senator Menendez fell way way below that standard."

But Schumer stopped short of calling on him to step down.

The New York veteran also suggested that he would reserve judgment and have something to say about it after Thursday's meeting with the Democratic senators. But the normally voluble Schumer had nothing to say immediately after the meeting.

It's easy to understand why the press is hounding Schumer over his reticence. There is not much Schumer can really do to force out Menendez, who has steadfastly declared his innocence and predicts that he'll be exonerated once all the facts in the case are known.

Schumer and his colleagues can formally censure Menendez, a humiliating form of punishment and a mark on the permanent record, but it would not force him from office.

They could try the nuclear option of expulsion — but that would require Republican votes to reach the 67 needed, and Republicans see no political advantage in helping out.

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"Republicans are perfectly happy to have him in there as a tainted candidate," said Ross K. Baker, a Rutgers University political scientist and expert on Congress. "And I think that there are some Democrats who just don't want to do it. So I don't think it's ever going to reach a critical mass which would convince Menendez that he had lost the confidence of a majority of his colleagues."

Menendez has already resigned his post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as required, and colleagues could vote to strip him of his posts on the Finance and Banking committees. But perhaps Schumer & Co. may not want to push it too far, at least in the short term.

As Menendez noted in his post-conference remarks Thursday, Schumer will need every Democratic vote he can muster.

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He oversees a narrow majority — 48 actual Democrats propped up by a socialist Bernie Sanders, an independent Angus King from Maine and the fickle Krysten Sinema, a Democrat-turned-independent from Arizona. Menendez could be needed in a close vote on a deal to keep the government functioning, for example. Menendez's comment — "I'm sure that when they need those votes" — sounded like a less-than-veiled reminder of his relevance.

He retains a quid-pro-vote form of leverage. His colleagues, like hoodie-wearing Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who pledged to support a primary challenger to Menendez next year if that happens, can squawk all they want to about Menendez's conduct.

Menendez will likely stick around, consider his options, raise money for his legal defense funds (or tap his $7 million campaign war chest for legal needs) and wait to see just how detailed and damning the feds' case against him is.

Is there enough patience in New Jersey for Menendez to hang on?

But some worry that there are limits to Democrats' patience.

The state's Democratic Party leadership, beginning with Gov. Phil Murphy, has called on Menendez to resign. It signals that the party is unlikely to rally around him next year if he runs for reelection.

The crucial institutional support won’t be there, forcing Menendez to run as a party pariah and off the “county line,’’ denying him the status that almost always guarantees a victory.

Yet Menendez is a wily political survivor, and nobody is eager to enter a primary battle with him. Democrats will have enough on their hands next year propping up an unpopular President Joe Biden in a likely rematch with Donald Trump. No one wants to add an unnecessary and potentially expensive level of doubt in what was supposed to be a safe blue seat next year.

“Democrats have a very narrow path to holding the Senate majority, and they can't afford to spend money in a Democratic state that Biden should win easily,’’ said Nathan Gonzalez, a political analyst and editor of Campaigns & Elections magazine.

So it is no surprise that Schumer had little to say Thursday. What can he do, other than wait for the senior senator from New Jersey to decide his own future?

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bob Menendez charges are a growing problem for Chuck Schumer