THE Democratic Senator Bob Menendez denied wrongdoing today and vowed to keep his seat in Congressthe, since prosecutors prosecuted him and his wife on charges of taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen.

State officials, including New Jersey’s Democratic governor Phil Murphy, have called on Menendez to resign. His decision to remain a senator could complicate the party’s efforts to retain its slim majority (51-49) in that House. It should be noted, however, that New Jersey has not elected a Republican senator in half a century, since 1972.

Menendez temporarily stepped down as chairman of the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee because Senate rule states that those charged with felonies must step down from their leadership posts. But he can return to the presidency if he is found not guilty.

“I firmly believe that when all the facts are told, I will not only be acquitted, but I will still be the senior senator of New Jersey,” Menendez, 69, said in his first public statements since being indicted.

Prosecutors allege that Menendez accepted gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in order to use his influence to help the Egyptian government and intervene on behalf of the three businessmen with law enforcement agencies investigating them.

It is the third time the senator has been the target of a federal investigation, but he has never been convicted.

Menendez, his wife and the three businessmen will appear in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. The charges they face carry a prison sentence of up to 45 years, but judges usually hand down much shorter sentences in such cases.