Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez’s daughter, Alicia, took the weekend off from her MSNBC weekend program just two days following her father’s indictment.
Menendez did not appear on her weekly show, “American Voices with Alicia Menendez,” which airs every Saturday and Sunday at 6 p.m. Former Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro filled in for Menendez, and said she would return the following weekend.
The reason for her absence is unknown.
The Southern District of New York charged Menendez’s father and her stepmother, Nadine, with three counts related to the couple allegedly accepting bribes to wield his power at home and abroad. The 39-paged indictment accused Menendez of providing sensitive U.S. government information to Egypt. It also accused the Senator of having accepted, among other things, a luxury car, mortgage payments, gold bars and cash as a form of bribery.
The indictment alleges Menendez allegedly stuffed over $480,000 in cash inside “clothing, closets and a safe.” (RELATED: Here’s A List Of All The Democrats Calling On Sen. Menendez To Resign)
The senator claimed he withdrew the cash from his own personal savings account and kept it for emergency purposes during a Monday press conference in Union, New Jersey.
“I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account, which I have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba,” Menendez said. “Now this may seem old-fashioned, but these were monies drawn from my personal savings account based on the income that I have lawfully derived.”
Menendez has denied the allegations and accused the indictment of being rooted in racism against Latinos in a Friday statement.
Several prominent Democrats, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have called on Menendez to resign.