After reports by news website The Daily Caller accused Senator Robert Menendez, D-N.J., of repeated sexual misconduct, allegations surfaced that the FBI was simultaneously investigating the Garden State politician, looking into his frequent trips to the Dominican Republic.
A Washington Post report has now quoted a Santo Domingo escort who said she was coerced into making the allegations against Menendez. The report said Nexis de los Santos Santana, a 23-year-old Dominican woman, was paid to make up claims against Menendez, along with one of his biggest donors, Florida ophthalmologist Dr. Salomon Mengen.
Santana told the Post she was hired by a lawyer to be interviewed by Dominican media to falsify information against Menendez, Melgen and Melgen's cousin, also a Dominican lawyer. The Daily Caller responded, blasting the Post report. Editor David Martosko wrote that the affidavit acquired by the Washington Post was instead of a third woman who had alleged she paid Menendez for sex, and not one of the two The Daily Caller had interviewed in 2012.
Though the Post reported they had solicited comment from The Daily Caller and not received any response, editor-in-chief Tucker Carlson tweeted they had indeed not reached out: "WaPo might have saved itself the embarrassment if they'd bothered to call us before running the stupid piece." Carlson also tweeted that Post reporter Carol Leonnig emailed him after press time and "pretended [he] didn't respond" to inquiries for her report. The Daily Caller later released an official statement alleging that the Post falsified both claims made by its piece and the affidavit referenced therein.
In January, the site reported it received emails proving that the organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington had been notified as early as April 2012 of misconduct by Menendez on visits to Santo Domingo. The news site declined to print the names of the alleged prostitutes because of the possibility that they may have been underage at the time they purportedly met with Menendez and Melgen.
The report said that Menendez met with the young woman three years prior in June 2009, noting it was memorable because of the proximity to her birthday. It also noted that CREW later sent its findings in a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice to inquire about an investigation into the matter.
The Senator has repeatedly denied any sexual misconduct throughout the scandal.
"I've always said they were false; they're smears!" he told Beltway reporters.
Menendez, who beat Republican Rep. Joe Kyrillos for his second full term in the Senate in 2012, continued, saying he puts his trust in the Dominican courts to exonerate him of all allegations.
Melgen's attorney, Kirk Ogrosky, told the Miami Herald that the eye doctor also denies any participation in the alleged activities.
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