Powerful Democratic Senator in hot water over shady associations and allegedly worse.

[Statler Waldorf]

If any of this ends up being true, this guy is toast and rightly so (the prostitutes he allegedly visited are underage). I’ll keep an eye on it and post any further updates.

But allegations also have surfaced that Menendez, with the help of Melgen, saw prostitutes while in the Dominican Republic. Emails posted online last week appeared to show the FBI communicating with an individual claiming to know about Menendez's trips. That individual, who goes by the name of Peter Williams, confirmed to FoxNews.com that the email exchange "is totally authentic."

He provided another purported email exchange from last week with a Miami-based FBI agent. In the exchange, the FBI agent asked to meet Williams "away from the Dominican Republic" to discuss the situation.

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[TheWalrus]

Yikes. The Dominican Republic has really bounced back well since Trujillo was gunned down in the street 50 or so years ago but unfortunately the sex trade is still a big part of the culture there.

I doubt he could be tried for this unless he either paid for sex with campaign donations or it breaks Dominican law (I don't know if it does). But if the allegations are true you would certainly think he would resign. Does anyone know the procedure for replacing a Senator under Florida law? Every state seems to do it differently.

[Statler Waldorf]

Yikes. The Dominican Republic has really bounced back well since Trujillo was gunned down in the street 50 or so years ago but unfortunately the sex trade is still a big part of the culture there.

I doubt he could be tried for this unless he either paid for sex with campaign donations or it breaks Dominican law (I don't know if it does). But if the allegations are true you would certainly think he would resign. Does anyone know the procedure for replacing a Senator under Florida law? Every state seems to do it differently.

He's already going to be in trouble with the ethics committee for not reporting those plane trips until two years after they happened. I am not sure what will happen if he resigns. When this broke on Tuesday it didn’t have much steam behind it (the Daily Caller originally broke the story), but apparently yesterday it begin looking more and more like there was some truth to the allegations, which is why I decided it was probably worth posting. We’ll see what happens.

[Gonzo]

Yikes. The Dominican Republic has really bounced back well since Trujillo was gunned down in the street 50 or so years ago but unfortunately the sex trade is still a big part of the culture there.

I doubt he could be tried for this unless he either paid for sex with campaign donations or it breaks Dominican law (I don't know if it does). But if the allegations are true you would certainly think he would resign. Does anyone know the procedure for replacing a Senator under Florida law? Every state seems to do it differently.

You would think, but these idiots always try to keep their office.

[MoFinz]

Who cares...not like he got fellatio in the oval office

[Eshlemon]

You would think, but these idiots always try to keep their office.

Why not? A politician can get caught with a $100,000 in the freezer and on tape accepting bribes and still get re-elected. That is a lot of money for your defense you'd be giving up.

[Spesh]

The scandal against
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has taken a new twist, as a Dominican woman at the forefront of the prostitution angle of the investigation now says she was paid to say she had sex with him.

Prior, she said — in a video — the senator had paid her for sex,
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reports


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— who faces federal investigation for allegations that he used his
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seat to improperly benefit a campaign donor,
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— has repeatedly denied he had sex with a prostitute during trips to the
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.

His accuser, Nexis de los
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, now says the video in which she claims sex with the senator was made without her knowledge.

“I am the person in the video, that is me, and those are my words, but this statement is not true,” she said,
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reported. “I never agreed to be recorded.”

Meanwhile, federal officials are still continuing to “pursue all leads,” including the prostitution charges,
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reports.

Read more:
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Stumbled across this update this morning and remembered we had a thread up about it. Looks like the Dominican lawyer who represented the girls is now in hot water. Apparently the FBI investigated the Senator, as well as flying some agents out to the Republic, and found no evidence involving him in the accusations.

edit: sorry, apparently it was a second lawyer who did it and the first was supposedly an unwitting accomplice? Better article on the story:

The woman said a local lawyer had approached her and a fellow escort and asked them to help frame Menendez and a top donor, Salomon Melgen, according to affidavits obtained by The Washington Post.

That lawyer has in turn identified a second Dominican lawyer who he said gave the woman a script and paid her to read the claims aloud. The first lawyer said he found out only later that the remarks would be videotaped and used against Menendez, the affidavits say...

The escort, Nexis de los Santos Santana, 23, said in an affidavit she was hired by lawyer Miguel Galvan to do a taped interview with journalists in mid-October. Galvan explained to her that a false account was needed for a divorce case. De los Santos said she was surreptitiously taped implicating Menendez, Melgen and prominent Dominican lawyer Vinicio Castillo Selmán, Melgen’s cousin, in hiring prostitutes.

“Those are my words and that is me, but it does not reflect the truth,” she said in her affidavit.

In his statement, Galvan said the other attorney misled him about the purpose of the tape, saying he was working as a divorce lawyer for a client and simply needed someone to confirm infidelity on tape.

Santana and Galvan are now seeking a protective order and immunity in the court’s investigation.

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[TheWalrus]