Washington, Mar. 5 (ANI): An escort who had claimed in a video that Senator Robert Menendez engaged with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic in 2012 has now said she was paid to make up the claims. The escort added that she has never seen or met with the New Jersey Democrat. According to CBS News, the female escort identified a lawyer who she said approached her and a colleague and offered them money to read from a script, but did not tell them it would be video-taped. That man then identified another lawyer who he said gave him the script and paid him to find women who would be willing to fabricate the claims, according to affidavits obtained by the Washington Post. According to the report, days before his re-election last November, the conservative news site The Daily Caller published the videos, which blurred the women’s faces, along with an article alleging that Menendez had flown to the Dominican Republic and slept with prostitutes at a resort where Dr. Salomon Melgen, an eye doctor who has made sizeable donations to Menendez, had a home. FBI agents conducting interviews in the Dominican Republic have not found any evidence to back up the original tipster. Last month, Menendez, who has maintained his innocence, slammed the allegations as ‘smears’ being peddled by ‘right-wing blogs’, the report added. (ANI)
