On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) called for Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) to resign in the wake of the “damning” indictment of him and that the actions laid out in the indictment sound like espionage. She also stated that it’s crucial that foreign leaders “do not even have a hint of an expectation that they can buy any sort of influence with American members of Congress.”
Host Wolf Blitzer asked, “The governor of the state is now calling for him to resign immediately. Do you echo that call?”
Spanberger answered, “Absolutely, absolutely. This is an issue of ensuring that our voters, the American people, those who send us to do the work for the American people on Capitol Hill believe in us. It’s also incredibly important that on the global stage that international leaders do not think or do not even have a hint of an expectation that they can buy any sort of influence with American members of Congress. So, certainly, he is innocent until proven guilty, but this indictment is damning and he should resign.”
She added, “It is abhorrent that there would be any elected member of Congress, the House or the Senate, or that there would be any position — person in a position of authority within the United States government who would in any way jeopardize the public trust and the trust put in them by the voters, but also our own national security, and to do so for their own personal gain. It’s just — it’s abhorrent.”
Blitzer then asked, “[T]o you as a former CIA officer, does it sound like espionage from your perspective?”
Spanberger responded, “So, from an indictment standpoint, from a legalese standpoint, I’ll defer to the Justice Department and the FBI on that. But certainly, as a former intel. officer, we collected information and we paid people for that information. So, in the simplest of terms, yes. From a legal standpoint, I’ll defer to the DOJ on that.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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