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TRENTON, N.J., Aug. 20 (AP): New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is scheduled to resign by the end of Tuesday, about a month after a jury convicted him on federal bribery charges.
Menendez resigned last month in a letter to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who said Friday he was appointing a former top aide to succeed the three-term governor.
The governor said George Helme will replace Menendez until the results of the November election for the Senate seat are known later this month. At that time, Murphy said Helme will resign and he will nominate the winner of the election to the seat.
The stakes are high in the Senate race, where Democrats still hold a slim majority. Republicans haven’t won a Senate race in Democratic-leaning New Jersey in more than 50 years.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and Republican hotel developer Curtis Bashaw are locked in a tight race in the general election.
Helmy, 44, served as Murphy’s chief of staff from 2019 to 2023 and currently serves as an executive at RWJBarnabas Health, one of the state’s largest health care providers. He previously served as Senate state director for Sen. Cory Booker.
Menendez, 70, was convicted on charges that he used his influence to interfere in three different state and federal criminal investigations to protect businessmen. Prosecutors said he helped a friend who paid bribes secure a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatar Investment Fund and helped another friend secure a contract to provide religious certification for meat shipped to Egypt.
He was also convicted of seeking benefits for the Egyptian government in exchange for bribes, including providing detailed information about U.S. Embassy personnel in Cairo and ghostwriting a letter to a fellow senator asking for the removal of military aid to Egypt. FBI agents also said they found stacks of gold bars and a stash of $480,000 in Menendez’s home.
Menendez has denied all charges and said in a letter to Murphy last month that he plans to appeal the verdict.
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