‘That Sleazeball!’ Fetterman Sends Colorful Pre-Trial Message to His Indicted Dem Senate Colleague Bob Menendez

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has been one of the loudest critics of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), whose criminal trial for allegedly taking bribes starts this week, and he didn’t hold back when interviewed by CNN’s Manu Raju about his Democratic colleague.

Menendez is facing sixteen criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to obstruct justice, related to allegations he took “bribes including gold bars, cash and a luxury car to, among other things, help push US aid and weapons to a foreign government and stop a federal case against one of his co-defendants,” reported CNN. The New Jersey senator was the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since 2018 until last September, when the Department of Justice indictment forced him to step down from that role.

So far, Menendez has rejected calls for him to resign from the Senate, and while he declined to run for re-election for his seat as a Democrat, he is still contemplating launching an independent campaign, in no small part because it would allow him to fundraise to help pay his legal bills.

Menendez’s trial, which is expected to last several weeks, kicked off Monday with jury selection. He is being tried along with two of his co-defendants, Egyptian-American businessman Wael Hana and New Jersey real estate developer Fred Daibes. Nadine Menendez, the senator’s wife, is also a co-defendant and facing her own separate trial that is currently scheduled to begin in July.

Raju caught up with Menendez outside his Senate office last week and asked him again about resigning.

“Senator, your trial starts next week,” said Raju in the clip he played Sunday on Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju. “If you’re convicted, will you resign?”

“Really?” scoffed Menendez with a laugh, prompting Raju to repeat his question, again getting a “Really?” response from the senator.

“Any thoughts about the trial as we head into next week?” Raju tried again.

“I’m looking forward to proving my innocence, thank you,” said Menendez.

Raju noted that Menendez was previously charged in a different corruption case in 2017 that ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked, and also insisted he was innocent and refused to step down back then. Still, “a slew of his fellow Democrats like John Fetterman want him gone asap,” said Raju, bringing up a clip of him talking to Fetterman.

“Did anyone wish Menendez good luck for next week — for that sleazeball?!” said Fetterman, using an insult he’s applied to his New Jersey colleague on multiple occasions.

“What if he is acquitted and runs for reelection?” Raju asked Fetterman.

“I guess, I guess we’ll see, but what’s clearly happened, he got lucky the last trial, some people would say,” said Fetterman. “But now he thought, ‘I can get away with anything,’ and then he tripled down on all that. He won’t be around much longer. That would be my my my bet.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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