Senator Bob Menendez to quit after bribery conviction - reports

Bob Menendez is to resign from the US Senate, according to US media, after being convicted of accepting bribes including gold bars to help foreign governments.

The New Jersey Democrat had been resisting resignation calls - including from Democratic Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer. His resignation comes a day after the US Senate Ethics Committee began a review on his expulsion.

Menendez - formerly the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - was found guilty on 16 counts related to corruption. He faces decades in prison.

He has maintained his innocence, saying outside court after his conviction that he "never violated my public oath".

According to the Washington Post and several other outlets, Menendez’s resignation will be effective from 20 August.

A late August resignation will also allow him to collect at least another month of his Senate salary and health insurance at a time in which his finances are under strain and his wife, Nadine, is undergoing cancer treatment, the New York Times has reported.

The BBC has contacted Menendez’s office for comment.

The 70-year-old former head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee is facing the prospect of decades in prison when he is sentenced on 29 October.

He has vowed to appeal and expressed confidence that he will succeed, saying he has “every faith” that the facts “did not sustain” his conviction.

In the days after his conviction, Menendez came under increasing pressure to resign, including from Mr Schumer and fellow New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.

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