Democrats REFUSE To Say Though Oust a Senator Being Convicted of Corruption

Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez and two top Senate Democrats on Sunday refused to say whether Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) should step down if he is convicted by a jury in his corruption trial.



"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace asked Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) whether he thought Menendez should step down from his Senate seat if the jury convicts him, emphasizing the meaning of conviction versus their previous exchange on allegations of sexual misconduct against Roy Moore, the Republican Senate candidate in Alabama.



Van Hollen said that he was going to leave the case to the jury and was not going to get ahead of the game when it comes to making a decision on whether he should step down.



"People on the jury will look at the facts, just like people in Alabama will have to look at the facts, and they'll have to render a decision," Van Hollen said. "I'm not going to speculate about what the outcome of that jury decision will be."



Similarly, CNN's Jake Tapper asked Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) Sunday whether he would vote to expel Menendez if he is convicted of the corruption charges.



"I'm not going to get into the hypotheticals on either of these situations, as I said several steps removed," Durbin said, also referring to the Moore accusations. "I'm hopeful that when all is said and done that Bob Menendez will be returning to the Senate representing the state of New Jersey."