More on Sideshow Bob Menenedez and his gold bars and stacks of bills (U.S. News): It was the second time Menendez has faced serious legal trouble. He avoided conviction on different federal bribery charges when a jury deadlocked in 2017, and he successfully ran for reelection in 2018. But this time, Democrats – who are demanding accountability for former President Donald Trump and who are battling GOP claims that the Department of Justice has been “weaponized” against Republicans under President Joe Biden’s administration – are not rallying around Menendez. In a stunning rebuke of a member of his own party and state delegation, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy Friday afternoon called on Menendez to resign from office, saying the “deeply disturbing” allegations “are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state.” “Therefore, I am calling for his immediate resignation,” Murphy said in a statement. As the day went on after the bombshell indictment, Democrats began bailing on their legally troubled colleague. New Jersey Democrats, including state assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, state Democratic Party Chairman Leroy Jones, Rep. Andy Kim and Rep. Mikie Sherrill, and former Rep. Tom Malinowski called on Menendez to step down from the Senate. Kim has announced he will primary Menendez in 2024. The three-term senator, whose vote is essential to the Democrats’ single-seat majority in the Senate, was forced to give up his gavel as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, per caucus rules. Citizens for…