Menendez Denounces Prostitution Allegations As ‘Smears’

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM



IGOR BOBIC 6:25 PM EST, MONDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2013

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on Monday denounced allegations that he visited prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, characterizing a Daily Caller report as "smears" based in falsehoods.

"The smears, the smears that right-wing blogs have been pushing since the election," Mendendez told CNN's Dana Bash are "totally unsubstatiated. It's amazing to me that anonymous, faceless indivuduals on a website can drive a story in to the mainstream. Bottom-line, all of those smears are absoutely false." Mendendez also defended his relationship with Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida friend and donor, after failing to disclose or pay for two roundtrip flights provided by Melgen. Menendez has since reimbursed Melgen $58,500 for the trips on Jan. 4.

"When it came to my attention I did what was right," Menendez said. "When it came to my attention I paid for....after the election when I got to look at the allegations...I ultimately came forward. One of those flights I self-reported."

A woman named as one of the prostitutes visited by Menendez in the Dominican Republic denied earlier Monday that she ever met the embattled Senator or worked as a prostitute.

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Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/menendez-denounces-prostitution-allegations-as-smears

[samsingh]

1. i don't care if he did

[hay rick]

2. Story remains unsubstantiated.

Another article: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/02/3214590/following-the-trail-of-sen-robert.html

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- The shadowy tipster who made explosive allegations involving U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic named names. He gave descriptions of the women, and in some cases, phone numbers and addresses.

Despite those details, the women are nowhere to be found.

A week after the claims made headlines in the United States and on this Caribbean island, the alleged prostitutes have disappeared. An attorney who once represented two of the women said he hadn’t spoken to them in months, and then stopped returning phone calls himself. A two-bedroom apartment where some of the alleged liaisons took place is now vacant. Little remains here beyond hazy memories.

No concrete links have been made between Menendez and any prostitutes. Still, the allegations from the tipster, who identified himself as Peter Williams, were serious enough to launch an FBI probe. And shreds of evidence in Santo Domingo show that, at the very least, the women Williams described exist.

[DonViejo]

4. I smell a con job being exposed...

and the con men are becoming exposed for what they are, blackmailers. My gut instinct is telling me the con men didn't realize how big the story would become...and how that media attention would take total control of their scheme away from them, exposing them.

[alp227]

5. So Manti Teo is behind the allegations?

[Kingofalldems]

3. This slur was trumpeted right here on DU last week.

Glad you posted this one. Republicans won't like it at all.

[Kingofalldems]

6. Kick this one

[TwilightGardener]

7. As long as they're not underage and he didn't break any laws,

I don't care with whom he does what. Pampers Vitter is still in the Senate, more obnoxious than ever.