Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who is federally accused of accepting gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for his influence as a senator, is reportedly mulling an independent reelection bid. Citing a pair of sources “who spoke with him directly,” NBC News’s Julie Tsirkin, Carol E. Lee, and Kate Santaliz reported Thursday that Menendez is considering an independent run: He is now making calls to allies about his record and career and is preparing to collect petitions to run in November as an independent, the sources said. If Menendez were to run as a Democrat,...