New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez has denied soliciting prostitutes in the Dominican Republic but admitted he traveled at least three times on a donor’s private plane to and from the country.
The statement comes on the heels of an FBI raid on wealthy ophthalmologist Dr. Salomon Melgen’s Miami office late Tuesday evening and internal FBI emails showing the bureau is investigating the Senator’s alleged solicitation of allegedly underage prostitutes in the Dominican.
“Dr. Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of Senator Menendez for many years,” Menendez’s office said in a Wednesday statement, according to the Washington Post. “Senator Menendez has traveled on Dr. Melgen’s plane on three occasions, all of which have been paid for and reported appropriately. Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically-motivated right-wing blog and are false.”
When the story first broke, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) executive director Rob Jesmer called on Menendez to release all his travel records. He has not done that, and his spokeswoman Tricia Enright did not immediately respond to a Breitbart News request for the travel records.
Jesmer said the allegations against Menendez are “very serious and deserve examination.”
“Fortunately, there is a simple way for Senator Menendez to begin addressing these questions, and that is by releasing his schedule and travel records related to Easter Week of this year, as well as the other dates in question,” Jesmer said.
This reporter broke the story while writing for The Daily Caller last year and interviewed two Dominican Republic women in November 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.