MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez began her program on a “personal note” Saturday as she declared that she’d stay clear of covering the indictment of her father, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.).
“Last week, a grand jury indicted U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez. This past week, dozens of members of his own party have demanded his resignation,” said the MSNBC anchor on her “American Voices” program. “I have been watching, along with all of you, as a citizen and also as his daughter. I will not be reporting on the legal case.”
She then pointed to her own network’s reporting as she spoke just over one week after her father was indicted on corruption charges.
“That said, my colleagues across MSNBC and NBC News, they have aggressively covered the story and they’ll continue to do so, as they should,” the anchor added.
Alicia Menendez’s father and his current wife, Nadine Menendez, were among those indicted in an alleged bribery scheme. Her father has been accused of accepting gifts in exchange for using his position in politics to aid the Egyptian government.
Bob Menendez has since pleaded not guilty, and an attorney for Nadine Menendez has said she also denies the allegations. High-profile Democrats have called for the resignation of the senator, who stepped down from his role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The anchor — whose mother, Jane, was married to Bob Menendez from 1976 to 2005 — didn’t appear on her program last weekend in the wake of the indictment. A source told The Washington Post that “the timing was coincidental” as she was long set to attend a wedding.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to Nadine Menendez as Alicia’s mother. Alicia’s mother, Jane, was previously married to Bob Menendez. Bob and Nadine married in 2020.