Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized conservative media investigating New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s alleged solicitation of prostitutes in the Dominican Republic and the FBI inquiry into the matter on Tuesday.
At his weekly press conference, Breitbart News asked Reid if he thinks there should be a full investigation into the allegations surrounding Menendez before the New Jersey Democrat takes over as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman. Menendez is slated to take the Foreign Relations Committee gavel after Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry becomes President Barack Obama’s next Secretary of State.
Reid responded to Breitbart News by attacking the “source” for the allegations.
A transcript of the questioning:
Breitbart News: “Senator, do you think there needs to be-before he takes over as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, do you think there needs to be a full investigation into Senator Menendez’ alleged solicitation of prostitutes in the Dominican Republic and the FBI investigation into that?”
Reid: “The answer is: ‘Always consider the source.’ All anyone here has to look at is the source where this comes from. The source has brought up a lot of–“
Breitbart News: “There are FBI emails showing the FBI is–“
Reid: “I told you how I feel about the source of this stuff is. Really very, very typical for the source.”
This reporter interviewed two Dominican Republic women in November, while reporting for The Daily Caller before joining Breitbart News, who claimed Menendez paid them for sex around Easter-time last year. The encounter apparently took place at Casa de Campo, a posh 7,000-acre resort in the Dominican Republic. Each woman told this reporter that Menendez had agreed to pay them $500 for sex but only paid them $100.
Emails published online last week support this reporter’s original accounts by confirming the existence of an FBI investigation. On August 1, 2012, the FBI had opened an inquiry into Menendez’s alleged prostitution solicitation–mainly because one of the prostitutes Menendez allegedly paid for sex was allegedly underage.
On Monday, Breitbart News’ Kerry Picket pressed Menendez on the issue. Menendez told Picket that he wasn’t “going to dignify that story” when she asked him for comment.