White House: ‘Good’ Menendez Quit as Cmte. Chair, Won’t Say He Should Resign, We’ll Keep Working with Egypt

On Monday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby stated that the White House thinks it was appropriate for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to step down as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but they won’t say he’ll resign, and they’ll keep working with Egypt.

Co-host Annmarie Hordern asked, [relevant exchange begins around 15:10] “I want to ask you about Sen. Bob Menendez. He’s under federal investigation. And authorities are alleging that he helped Egypt, the government of Egypt, giving it sensitive information about the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, as well as helping with arms sales to Egypt. Does this undermine U.S. foreign policy or give the illusion that American foreign policy can be bought?”

Kirby responded, “I think I need to be really careful here, Annmarie. This is an open legal issue being handled by the Justice Department. I don’t want to get in the middle of that or get ahead of that. What we’re focused on is making sure that we can meet the national security needs of the country right now, that includes working with allies and partners all over the world, including Egypt, and we’ll continue to do that. But I think it’d be best for me not to comment on the Senator’s issues right now.”

Hordern then asked, “Well, do you think he should resign?”

Kirby responded, “Look, he resigned himself from the chairmanship, … we think that that was a good move. But beyond that, I just don’t think it’s useful for me to comment.”

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