Fetterman seizes on Menendez charges to lampoon dress code backlash

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) says he hopes Congress will pursue Sen. Bob Menendez’s resignation with the same determination they’ve had while criticizing the new Senate dress code.

Fetterman, the first senator to call for Menendez to step down over his indictment on bribery charges, said in a Tuesday statement that he hopes “to see my colleagues fully address the alleged systemic corruption of Senator Menendez with the same vigor and velocity they brought to concerns about our dress code.”

Fetterman, who is well known for his love of relaxed attire, has come under fire in relation to the Senate’s recent loosened dress code. Some lawmakers criticized the change in the wake of the new rules, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

“I think I’m pretty safe in saying most if not all Republican senators think we ought to dress up to go to work. So I can’t imagine that we’re going to be wearing jeans on the Senate floor anytime soon,” McConnell told reporters last week.

Prosecutors accused Menendez, along with his wife, of taking “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in bribes in exchange for helping three New Jersey businessmen. Menendez has strongly rebutted the allegations, calling them an “active smear campaign.”

“For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempted to silence my voice and dig my political grave. Since this investigation was leaked nearly a year ago, there has been an active smear campaign of anonymous sources and innuendos to create an air of impropriety where none exists,” Menendez said in a statement Friday.

“I have been falsely accused before because I refused to back down to the powers that be and the people of New Jersey were able to see through the smoke and mirrors and recognize I was innocent.”