Chris Christie isn’t interested in trying to fill embattled Sen. Bob Menendez’s congressional seat – even if his 2024 presidential run is unsuccessful.

It comes as even Democratic members are calling for the New Jersey senator’s resignation following bribery claims.

The Senate‘s No. 2 Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), stopped short Sunday morning of calling for Menendez to step down.

A federal grand jury indicted the senator and his wife Nadine Arslanian Menendez over corruption allegations in an investigation that focused on a luxury car, $400,000 in gold bars and cash, plus payments toward a home mortgage allegedly received by the couple.

While even those within Menendez’s own Party seem not to want him in the Senate any longer, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he won’t be the one to take his place.

‘I have no interest in being in the United States Senate,’ Christie told Meet the Press host Kristen Welker in a Sunday morning interview.

Currently Christie is among the crowded field of Republican candidates vying for the GOP presidential nomination against far-frontrunner Donald Trump.

It’s highly unlikely that Christie, who polls toward the middle to back of the pack, will be Republican’s candidate in 2024. But he made it clear that his alternative plan is not to join the U.S. Senate.

Welker pressed: ‘You rule it out completely?

‘Yes, I have,’ the former governor and one-time Trump adviser said. ‘I have throughout my entire career. I had a chance to appoint myself to the United States Senate, Kristen, in 2013 when Frank Lautenberg passed away and I was governor.’

‘If I didn’t appoint myself to the United States Senate, the easiest way to get there, I sure as heck am not going to run for it,’ he explained.

Menendez is a two-term senator and son of Cuban immigrants – and is up for reelection in 2024. Before becoming a senator, Menendez served in the House since 1991 representing at different times two separate New Jersey districts. 

He denied on Friday corruption charges against him and claims the indictment is racially motivated. He refused to resign.

‘Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first generation Latin American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. senator,’ he said in a statement claiming he stands ‘falsely accused.’

Durbin, who ranks just behind Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, stopped short of calling for his resignation – but was critical of the senator’s alleged actions that led to the charges.

‘This is a very serious charge,’ Durbin told CNN during an interview with State of the Union host Dana Bash on Sunday morning.

He compared the charges to the seriousness of the indictments against former President Trump.

‘In terms of resignation,’ Durbin added, ‘that’s a decision for Sen. Menendez and the people of New Jersey.’

The indictment against Menendez claim the senator and his wife had an improper relationship with three New Jersey businessmen: Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, who allegedly paid the couple in exchange for Menendez to use his influence in Washington D.C. to their benefit.

The couple face three criminal counts each – conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.

Menendez also stands accused of providing ‘sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt .’

The three businessmen are also facing charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services fraud.

Menendez said prosecutors in the Southern District of New York ‘misrepresented the normal work of a Congressional office’ in the indictment against him.

‘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,’ he said in a statement on the charges.

The senator added he would not be ‘distracted by baseless allegations’ but continue his work as senator. He has agreed to step down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Mitch McConnell returns to the Senate after freezing incidents

By Kelly Laco

Updated: 10:10 EDT, 5 September 2023

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Some Republicans are saying Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell should not be holding his leadership position following rising ‘doubts’ about his health status after he experienced a second ‘freeze-up’ incident last week.

McConnell’s health has been under increasing scrutiny following his second public freeze-up in recent weeks during a press conference in Kentucky where he didn’t respond for 30 seconds after being asked if he would run for reelection in 2026. 

The episode mirrored the senator’s first freezing event that occurred at a July press conference in the Capitol. It also comes just months after McConnell suffered a concussion and broken rib when he tripped and hit his head at the D.C. Waldorf Astoria and was admitted to hospital for treatment. 

Now, some Republicans are publicly questioning McConnell’s health status and ability to lead as the Senate returns to the Capitol after a 40-day recess hiatus.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Wednesday he ‘absolutely’ doesn’t believe McConnell is the right lawmaker to lead the Republican Party as they try to take back control of the Senate in 2024.

He told reporters: ‘Is he able to do the job? I mean, he’s going to have to answer that question. Do I think he should be a leader? No.’

Hawley was one of a handful of Republicans who did not vote for McConnell to become minority leader at the end of 2022. The other defectors included Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Mike Braun, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul and Rick Scott.

‘I don’t think you can have it both ways,’ he continued addressing his other GOP colleagues’ commitment to standing behind McConnell after his health scare, while questioning 80-year-old President Biden’s health and mental acuity. 

The GOP leadership has put the full weight of their support behind McConnell. 

Sen. John Thune, R-N.D., who is the No. 2 Senate Republican, said Tuesday that he fully backs McConnell continuing to serve as leader. 

On Tuesday, the Capitol physician shut down speculation that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 81, suffered a stroke or seizure. 

Capitol Physician Dr. Brian Monahan said there is ‘no evidence’ that McConnell suffered a stoke or seizure or has a ‘movement disorder’ such as Parkinson’s disease, according to a letter publicized by the minority leader’s office on Tuesday ahead of his return.

The physician said he consulted with neurologists and examined McConnell’s MRIs and an EEG study in making his determination. As a result, he writes that there are ‘no changes in recommended treatment protocols’ since the senator’s fall and concussion in March.

The minority leader’s office said last week that he was just feeling ‘lightheaded’ and assured he would consult a doctor as a precautionary measure.

Dr. Monahan cleared McConnell to continue working, saying the episode could be attributed to dehydration and that it’s normal to experience lightheadedness during concussion recovery. 

The other Kentucky senator, Rand Paul, pushed back on his assessment, saying dehydration is not a ‘valid’ diagnosis.

‘Everybody’s seen the clips, it’s not a valid medical diagnosis for people to say that’s dehydration,’ Paul, who worked in medicine for 25 years as an eye doctor, said Tuesday.

‘Somebody ought to wake up and say wow, this looks like seizure.’ 

However, not all are concerned. 

‘He’s a fine leader. If he has a hangnail, I don’t need to know about it,’ said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

‘The reality is that we may expect that Mitch McConnell will check out for 20 seconds a day, but the other 86,380 seconds on the day he does a pretty darn good job.’ 

Senators will reconvened on Tuesday for the first time since the end of July. 

McConnell made remarks on the Senate floor, but did not directly address his health challenges, only making a passing reference. 

He will have to face tougher questioning by the Capitol Hill press corps later Wednesday at the weekly GOP press conference.

The Senate has a busy few weeks ahead as government funding is set to run out by Oct. 1. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has stated his plan to move forward a series of spending bills over the next several weeks.

But the House of Representatives is not set to return to D.C. until next Tuesday, not leaving much time to get a deal done and starve off a government shutdown.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy has floated the idea of a one-month short-term funding bill, but he is receiving push back from farther right members of his conference.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., is also continuing his blockade on military appointments – which sparked a rare public rebuke from the secretaries of the Army, Air Force and Navy in an op-ed this week calling it a ‘dangerous hold.’ 

The House minority leader made a series of calls to his Senate allies following the latest troubling episode, DailyMail.com confirmed last week. 

It was an apparent effort to assure them of his stable health and drum up support as worries intensify. 

South Dakota Sen. John Thune’s spokesperson Ryan Wrasse confirmed to DailyMail.com that the Minority Whip spoke with McConnell and the leader ‘sounded like his usual self and was in good spirits.’

A spokesperson for Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., did not confirm that a call took place between the senators, but said they were aware of reports that the two spoke.

McConnell told Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that he is doing well when the two spoke after the incident on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the senator confirmed to DailyMail.com.

The GOP senators, known as the ‘Three Johns,’ are also next in line to replace the minority leader in the event that he steps down or is unfit to serve.

The very swift all-clear comes as reports emerge that a handful of Republican senators are discussing holding a meeting amid McConnell’s declining health. 

It does not appear that party leadership is involved in these alleged talks.

At least a dozen GOP offices said when reached by DailyMail.com last week that they are not aware of any meetings on the topic.

The latest episode has led to renewed calls for term limits in the House and Senate – even from those within the walls of Congress.

GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley called the Senate the ‘most privileged nursing home in the country’ after McConnell’s recent episode.

‘What I will say is, right now, the Senate is the most privileged nursing home in the country,’ she said last week. ‘I mean, Mitch McConnell has done some great things and he deserves credit. But you have to know when to leave.’ 

Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., said the limits would help restore ‘human decency’ for elderly politicians like McConnell and Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 90, who is also suffering public health scares.

‘For goodness sake, the family, friends, and staff of Senators Feinstein and McConnell are doing them and our country a tremendous disservice,’ Phillips wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

‘It’s time for term limits for Congress and the Supreme Court, and some basic human decency.’

His criticism of Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein comes after the 90-year-old was hospitalized earlier this month following a trip and fall at her home in San Francisco.

She was released after tests showed she was fine, but the latest health incident raised more questions about her ability to carry out her duties as a senator. 

Her many absences since the start of the year have hampered the majority Democrats’ ability to move nominations through the Judiciary Committee.

When little-known senator Ralph Babet jumped to his feet on Tuesday to raise concerns about the transparency of Scott Morrison’s government, there was a split- second of silence as his colleagues pondered his question.

The question was directed at Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, who represents the Prime Minister in the Senate. 

The United Australia Party senator asked her: ‘Now minister… the former Morrison government, this mob over here, honoured an appallingly low rate of just 48.7 per cent of Senate order for production of document requests. How terrible. 

‘Does the minister believe that the former Morrison government was a transparent government? Because I don’t think they were.’

She rose to her feet as those behind her appeared perplexed. Some even grumbled about the failings of the previous government.

Then Liberal senator Michaelia Cash stated the obvious: Beware the supplementary questions. 

The Government is under increased pressure to be more transparent, amid further questions about the decision to block Qatar Airways from having more access to Australia. The decision is said to have cost Australian travellers up to 40% on their airfares. 

But Penny Wong has been in parliament for 21 years, and her guard was up.

‘I am going to anticipate your next question… I am someone who has been her for quite a long time. I have never seen as many OPDs [orders for the production of documents] used as indiscriminately as the Opposition… are using them,’ she said.

‘I don’t believe any fair minded person looking at Mr Morrison’s secret ministries or the Robodebt tragedy would think the standards of transparency were sufficient.

‘We remember what Mr Morrison was like and the lack of accountability… even to his own colleagues when he took their jobs from them.’

Mr Babet said she obviously knew where he was going this ‘not being your first rodeo’. 

‘Your government is at 20.4 per cent. Twice as secretive as Scott Morrison’s government. Why?’

Ms Wong argued there had been a significant increase in the amount of OPDs being filed, and the amount being approved, but has vowed to investigate Mr Babet’s question. 

Ms Wong was subjected to most of the scrutiny in the Senate on Tuesday given her role as the representative for the Prime Minister in the chamber.

She was also peppered with questions from Nationals Leader of the Senate Bridget McKenzie, who questioned the division within Labor about the Qatar Airways decision.

Ms McKenzie asked for clarity as to ‘what exactly the national interest grounds’ in blocking additional flights from Qatar were.

‘The minister considers a range of factors when determining whether an expansion of bilateral air rights is in our national interest,’ Ms Wong said.

She maintained there was nothing unusual about the government’s decision, and noted Qatar is welcome to increase flights into Adelaide, Avalon, Cairns, Canberra and the Gold Coast. 

Her answer was met with jeers from the Coalition, demanding to know just what those factors were.

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, Mr Albanese was facing intense questioning of his own. 

The Nationals MP for Cowper, Pat Conaghan asked if the PM had ‘a conversation of any kind with Mr Alan Joyce prior to the government’s decision concerning Qatar Airways’.

The PM, realising the breadth of the question, responded: ‘I can confirm that I’ve met Alan Joyce, which is basically what the question was.’

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton later asked if Mr Albanese had any conversations with Virgin Australia over the application.

Mr Albanese said: ‘Yes.’

Later, Mr Albanese faced another question, this time from LNP’s Bert van Manen, who asked if he had any conversations with Mr Joyce or senior execitves regarding the application before a decision was handed down.

Mr Albanese said: ‘No.’   

Labor was elected on a policy of transparency, and is now facing increasing calls from across the chamber to honour that commitment.

While the Coalition would like an inquiry into the Qatar decision, the Greens are first calling on the government to release documents from the time of the decision. 

All bets on red! Political betting sites offer final odds on the midterms – with bookies rating GOP majorities in the House AND Senate as a 70% likelihood

• Overseas gambling sites give GOP favorable odds on winning House and Senate
• Implied probability of Republican control of the Senate now around 70%
• Gambling on elections is banned for the most part in the US, but popular abroad 

By Keith Griffith For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

Updated: 22:27 EDT, 8 November 2022

US midterm elections 2022: Arizona still has 400,000 votes to count in its largest county, Nevada could not be called until TOMORROW as Georgia runoff is confirmed and counting drags on

By Katelyn Caralle, U.S. Political Reporter In Las Vegas, Nevada and Elizabeth Elkind, Politics Reporter For Dailymail.Com and Chris Matthews For Mailonline

Updated: 20:18 EDT, 9 November 2022

Texas Senator Ted Cruz unloaded on Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell during a special episode of his podcast on Monday, making it clear that he holds the veteran lawmaker responsible for Republicans’ poor midterm performance.

‘Let me start off by saying I am so pissed off, I cannot even see straight,’ he said on The Verdict with Ted Cruz. ‘We had an extraordinary opportunity. We had a generational opportunity. This should have been a fundamental landslide election.’

The party’s post mortem of its election results has been taken over by finger-pointing as separate factions of the GOP blame each other for losing in the Senate and failing to sweep the House of Representatives in a decisive ‘red wave.’

A growing number of conservative Republican lawmakers are in open rebellion against party leaders while establishment figures accuse Donald Trump of endorsing bad candidates in key GOP primaries. 

‘The rage that I’m feeling, there are almost no words to describe it, because this opportunity was screwed up. It was screwed up badly, and the people that are gonna pay the price are the American people,’ Cruz said.

He’s among several senators in McConnell’s caucus now asking for this week’s leadership vote to be postponed, with some calling to wait until the runoff election for Georgia’s open Senate seat on December 6.

But while demanding a delayed leadership race has been seen as a tacit form of disapproval against McConnell, Cruz expressed his disdain for the longtime Kentucky Republican in no uncertain terms on Monday.

‘It’s more important to him to have Republicans who will back him, than it is to have 51 Republicans,’ the senator said.

‘I understand why, there’s a certain selfishness that justifies that, it just doesn’t make any sense if you give a damn about the country.’

Like Trump and his Republican allies, Cruz honed in on McConnell’s apparent refusal to back Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters – who narrowly lost to incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly.

The McConnell-aligned Senate Majority PAC pulled cash out of Masters’ race in August. 

‘Why did he pull out that money from Masters ,who desperately needed it?’ Cruz posed. ‘Because Masters said he would vote against Mitch McConnell [for Senate GOP Leader].’ 

‘And so Mitch would rather be leader than have a Republican majority. If there’s a Republican who can win, who’s not going to support Mitch, truth of the matter is he’d rather the Democrat win. So he pulled all the money out of Arizona.’

Cruz said at a different point, ‘Mitch, his philosophy as leader is to snuggle up to the Democrats and work with the Democrats.’

Among the other senators who back delaying the leadership vote and thus undercutting McConnell are South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

And Trump, who has not been shy about calling for McConnell’s removal from leadership, laid blame for Republicans’ Senate loss squarely at McConnell’s feet on Sunday.

‘It’s Mitch McConnell’s fault. Spending money to defeat great Republican candidates instead of backing Blake Masters and others was a big mistake,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social app.

‘Giving 4 Trillion Dollars to the Radical Left for the Green New Deal, not Infrastructure, was an even bigger mistake,’ Trump said. ‘He blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him and his otherwise lovely wife, Coco Chow!’

Trump and others have blamed McConnell for pouring millions into the Alaska Senate race to support GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski against a Trump-backed Republican rival at the expense of candidates whose races would have an effect on the party makeup of the Senate. 

But McConnell has no serious challenger to his leadership right now, as explained by Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton on CBS News this Sunday. 

‘I don’t see why we would delay the election, since all five or six of our leadership elections are uncontested,’ Cotton told Face The Nation.

‘You know, the great wrestling champion Ric Flair used to say, to be the man, you got to beat the man. And so far, no one’s had the nerve to step forward and challenge Senator McConnell.’

He added that it was better to get the elections out of the way so the party could once again unify to focus on the Georgia runoff.

US Senate ask Saudi governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and PGA Tour head Jay Monahan to appear before it on July 11 for inquest into shock LIV Golf merger

• The Senate want a response from  Yasir Al-Rumayyan by June 28 on appearing
• Jay Monahan recently stepped away from PGA duties due to a health issue 
• DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news

By Jack Bezants For Dailymail.Com

Published: 14:00 EDT, 21 June 2023 | Updated: 15:16 EDT, 21 June 2023

GOP Senate candidate vows to ‘actively campaign’ against Trump in 2024: Joe O’Dea hails Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott as ‘great Republicans’ to replace the ex-president in next White House race

• Construction executive Joe O’Dea, a Republican, is running to unseat Colorado Democratic Senator Michael Bennet in the November election
• He’s maintained a wide distance from Trump for the entire election so far
• Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell called O’Dea the ‘perfect candidate’ in July
• O’Dea has been endorsed by establishment Republicans like George W. Bush, Nikki Haley and Senator Tim Scott among others 

By Elizabeth Elkind, Politics Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 16:15 EDT, 16 October 2022 | Updated: 19:29 EDT, 16 October 2022

Debt ceiling talks STILL at a stalemate with three weeks until default date: Biden and McCarthy prepare for crunch White House meeting as Republicans threaten to filibuster ANY plan that doesn’t have spending cuts

• 43 GOP senators, led by Utah Sen. Mike Lee, over the weekend threatened to block a deal on the debt ceiling that wasn’t attached to ‘substantive’ budget cuts
• The group is large enough to filibuster a clean debt ceiling bill in the Senate – meaning such legislation would fail in both chambers of Congress

By Morgan Phillips, U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 09:54 EDT, 8 May 2023 | Updated: 13:41 EDT, 8 May 2023