Longtime Menendez Pal Ana Navarro Insists NJ Senator Isn’t Going to Resign: Even if ’99 Senators’ Call for it

Ana Navarro, a longtime GOP political operative turned media host, told CNN’s Abby Phillip she does not believe Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) will resign his office, no matter how many of his senate colleagues call for him to do so as he faces corruption charges.

“Ana, I have to ask you, you’ve known Bob Menendez for a long, long time. He’s incredibly defiant tonight. He’s saying that he’s going to stick around. He’s going to fight it. What do you make of that decision of his to do that?” Phillip asked Navarro on Monday night.

“I have to tell you, I met Bob Menendez almost 30 years ago. I was a snot-nosed law student trying to pass immigration legislation. And he helped me. Back then, he was in Congress. And we have worked together on countless issues and causes through the years,” Navarro began. Earlier on Monday, Navarro told her co-hosts on The View that the charges against Menendez had left her “shaken,” given their long relationship and the gravity of the charges.

“So I know him quite well. He’s not defiant tonight. Bob Menendez is defiant, period. That’s just his character. He comes from one of the toughest areas in the country, Hudson County, New Jersey,” Navarro continued, adding:

And, you know, and I think that if you are Bob Menendez, I was I’ve thought about this endlessly this weekend. And because it’s painful for me, it’s shocking. It’s disturbing. These are very serious allegations. But I’ve thought about this and I’m thinking to myself, if you are Bob Menendez, you’ve got to be asking yourself, why should I resign when there’s a guy in the house, George Santos, who’s indicted when there’s a guy running for the Republican nomination, leading by 40 points, who’s indicted in four different cases? Why should I resign when I’ve beaten one of these things before? When the prosecution got it wrong and couldn’t get me and charged me with all these things.

So I’ve got to suspect that all of these things are going through his head. And I’ve got to tell you, I think 99 senators could come out and tell Bob Menendez to resign and he wouldn’t budge. Bob Menendez is not going to be shown the door. He’s not going to be shoved out when he does it, it’s because, if and when he does it is because he feels it. And also, listen, there’s primary elections in New Jersey in less than a year, in something like eight months. He’s up for reelection next year. If the people of New Jersey want him out, they’ve got a chance to do it.

Navarro made her comments as various members of Congress began to call on Menendez to resign, including many Democratic senators and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (R-CA). On Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who stuck with Menendez during his previous corruption trial, called on him to resign, a move CNN’s Manu Raju called a “big shoe to drop.”

Watch the full clip above via CNN.