Sen. Tammy Baldwin says she would vote to expel Bob Menendez if he doesn't resign

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin said she was "prepared to vote to expel" fellow Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez if he refused to resign following his conviction Tuesday in a federal corruption trial.

Baldwin last September called on Menendez to resign after he was indicted on charges of bribery and fraud in an influence scheme connected to foreign powers in which he was accused of receiving cash and gold bars. But Baldwin took her calls a step further Tuesday, as Menendez was found guilty on 16 charges.

"No one is above the law and the crimes Senator Menendez was found guilty of violate the American people's trust and have compromised his ability to effectively represent his constituents," Baldwin said in a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"As I have said for months, he should resign, but if he refuses, I am prepared to vote to expel him," she said.

The call from Baldwin, who is in a tight reelection race this year against Republican businessman Eric Hovde, came after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that Menendez should resign.

While more than half of the Democratic caucus in the Senate last year called for the New Jersey Democrat's resignation after he was charged, Schumer, a New York Democrat, had resisted.

"In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign," Schumer said in a statement released shortly after the verdict came down.

After he was charged last year, Menendez gave up his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but maintained he would not resign from his post in the Senate. He had denied the allegations.

Last year's charges marked the New Jersey Democrat's second indictment in eight years. His first bribery trial in 2017 ended with a hung jury.

On Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy reiterated his calls for Menendez's resignation. And New Jersey's other Democratic senator, Cory Booker, said: "When any elected official violates that trust, it is a betrayal of the oath we take to serve the people who've elected us."

In addition to Baldwin, other vulnerable Democratic senators in this fall's elections, including, Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, called for Menendez to step down.

USA Today contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Baldwin says she would vote to expel Bob Menendez if he doesn't quit