Senate Democrat says 'cloud' hangs over Menendez after bribery indictment

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said on Sunday that a cloud hangs over Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-N.J.) service in the Senate now following his indictment, but he stopped short of calling for Menendez’s resignation. 

“These are serious and shocking charges of bribery, corruption. I've never seen anything like this,” Kelly said on CBS News’s “Face The Nation” when asked whether Menendez should resign.

“I think Senator Menendez is going to have to think long and hard about the cloud that's going to hang over his service in the United States Senate,” Kelly added. 

Kelly’s comments come after Menendez was indicted this past week on charges related to bribery and corruption. Menendez adamantly denied the allegations, but he stepped down as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in accordance with Senate Democrats’ protocol for lawmakers under indictment. Still, Kelly noted this as a “serious step.”

A growing number of Democrats in Congress have called on Menendez to resign from his post in the Senate while still maintaining that he should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Menendez has resisted all calls for his resignation.