Menendez will address Senate colleagues about his bribery charges as calls for his resignation grow

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez is expected to address his Democratic Senate colleagues for the first time since he was indicted on federal bribery charges last week. Menendez is scheduled to speak to his colleagues on Thursday in a closed-door party luncheon in the Capitol. More than half of Senate Democrats have said Menendez should step down. But Menendez has so far signaled he has no plans to do so. Menendez has taken a defiant tone in speeches and a press conference in recent days, even as his Democratic colleagues in New Jersey and Washington have abandoned him since his indictment.