Escort says Menendez prostitution claims were made up

[Tx4obama]

Source: Washington Post

An escort who appeared on a video claiming Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) paid her for sex has told Dominican Republic police that she was instead paid to make up the claims in a tape recording and has never met or seen the senator before, according to court documents and two people briefed on her claim.

The woman identified a lawyer who approached her and a friend to make the videotape, according to affidavits obtained by the Post. That man has in turn identified another lawyer who gave him a script for the tape and paid him to find women to fabricate the claims, the affidavits say.

The escort was one of two women who taped videos that seems to support a tipster’s allegations that Menendez had patronized prostitutes while vacationing in the Dominican Republic.

FBI agents conducting interviews in the Dominican Republic have found no evidence to back up the tipster’s allegations, according to two people briefed on their work.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/escort-says-menendez-prostitution-claims-were-made-up/2013/03/04/31299fe2-8514-11e2-999e-5f8e0410cb9d_story.html

[DFW]

1. O'Keefe strikes again? n/t

[DainBramaged]

2. Never convict a man unless he goes to trial

fucking Pukes strike again.

[ThomThom]

12. that is correct

this is why we need secrecy about who is accused and arrested until they are convicted
one can never get their good name returned after the headlines destroy them
this is a huge problem with the press and our justice system

[secondwind]

3. The story is probably true, but in Dom. Republic, you can change any story and buy any lawyer

to fabricate anything.

Dom. Republic is pretty "lawless"

[DURHAM D]

11. Your post is confusing.

Are you saying that you think the Senator actually did have sex with the young woman?

[Grins]

4. How could that be?

Oh, gee. It's false. How could that be?

Oh.

&quot Anonymous source Peter) Williams, meanwhile, has gone underground. The anonymous WordPress site has apparently not been updated since Jan. 24. TPM’s emails to Peter Williams’ Yahoo account have not been returned. Other media outlets have had similar luck — with one exception. On Jan. 30, Breitbart reporter Matthew Boyle, who wrote the original story for The Daily Caller in November, reported that he’d received copies of other emails traded between Williams and the FBI, and that he also received “a note” from Williams himself."

All fingers are now pointing at you, Mr. Boyle. Maybe you should get some legal advice from fellow Breitbart "reporter", James O'Keffe?

[link:http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/peter_williams_robert_menendez_tipster.php?ref=fpa|

[graham4anything]

5. Amazing how few people here backed him in those weeks. Where are their apologies?

Everybody heard the smears.

How many will hear the retraction?

I got hounded here when I wrote a few threads on this board defending Senator Menendez and saying this was a political hit against him.
(both in party, and the other party wanting a senate seat.

Can you imagine what would have happened had the lynch mob in DC taken down Menendez, at which point Chris Christie(REPUBLICAN) would have named the interim senator and the rightwing do a major financed run.

At the same time Lautenberg was having a snit fit because Cory Booker was saying he would run and Lautenberg wanted to annoint someone else.

One thing is for sure, I will NEVER in a primary vote for the man Lautenberg wanted.
Cory has my vote.
Because this smear stunk to high heaven.

And everyone should retract.

And the other thing is Menendez is the senator who is going to help usher in great immigration reform. And it reeked of racism on top of everything else that they tried to get him out.

[Hippo_Tron]

7. I suspected it was fabricated as well

Sex scandals that turn out to be fact rather than fabrication, usually have a period where the person in question gives weak explanations such that their behavior indicates guilt, before it is confirmed. Mark Sanford and the "hiking the Appalachian trail", Anthony Weiner and the "my Twitter was hacked", etc.

Menendez hasn't exhibited this kind of behavior. He's acted like a person who is under fire from his opponents, but one knows that he didn't do anything wrong.

[alp227]

8. When Menendez is up for re-election in 2018, how many people will remember this or care? n/t

[graham4anything]

9. The point was, people wanted him removed from office now.And opened a seat

When there is a NJ election, I will NEVER EVER FORGET and NEVER EVER vote for
Frank Pallone in ANY PRIMARY EVER.

So, I will remember. And I will blame whomever I want if their name is in front of me.

May Cory Booker win a few terms, and Menendez win five or six more terms, and may Pallone NEVER win any higher elected office ever.

I can smell something stinking.
And it reeks as to how they got Governor McGreevey out.

And how James Florio was tossed.


because they wanted Menendez out now, opening a seat
Christie would have appointed a temp til November had the lynch mob succeeded
and then most likely that person would not have beaten Pallone.
So Pallone and Booker would have both gotten seats.

Because Pallone never counted on Booker not wanting to be a sacrificial lamb and ruunning against the unstoppable Christie.

Booker is not part of the smoke filled room NJ has. Neither is Menendez. Neither is Codey(which is why he is no longer Gov that he was for a short while).

Something stinks in New Jersey and well, I wish Menendez 6 more terms, and Booker 6 terms.
So that no one else gets a chance.
Actually, I wish Menendez and Booker to serve as Senators til they are the same age as Frank Lautenberg

[MADem]

26. The retraction and the Sweating of Fucker Carlson are getting some play on MSNBC.

Andrea Mitchell did a rather involved breakdown of how the "girl" was 23 and said she was paid to lie to the GOP.

What this does point out, though, is that there are just some places that smart public servants shouldn't go. For their own damn good. Sure, the golf is great there, the hotels luxurious, the service and pampering (along with the exploitation of the workers) second to none...but when you're a servant of the people, it's smart to be circumspect. Go golfing in San Diego or Florida...don't be jetting off like a one percenter. Stay away from the sexy ladies.

It's all about image, and voters like "regular guys."

He should be able to plow past this, but it didn't have to happen. Live and learn, I guess.

[chuckstevens]

6. Karl Rove?

He got his ass kicked in November, so maybe he went back to his old playbook. Oh God, PLEASE link that fat, evil fucker to this non-scandal and finish him off for good!

[Kingofalldems]

17. Yep

[Historic NY]

10. Sounds like O'keefe wasn't sleeping on his basement sofe at Mommie & Daddies again.

[Bucky]

13. I'm not a prostitute. But, if I was to make up sericing a senator, I wouldn't pick Menendez.

I think I'd probably lie about tapping someone with a little more, I dunno, pizzazz in his style (and a little less pizza under his belt). I mean, not to be agiest or sizeist or such. But really, Menendez? I mean, as long as you're lying, at least tap a hottie like Chris Murphy or a stylin' hipster like Marco Rubio. How hot is Rubio? So hot he's gotta douse that fire down in his belly! Or maybe make up a plausible fantasy about being Kelly Ayotte's paid escort for an evening--I mean, damn, has anyone checked out that girl-next-door insouciance or that million Watt smile! Now that's a senator worth lying about having sex with! But oo-la-la, if any senator is gonna get their face plastered in the papers next to mine for some shit I made up, I'd be hittin' that Bob Casey action--the Jean-Luc Picard of the Democratic caucus. Of all the senators I'd lie about paying me for sex, I'd be most flattered by him. Oh, hell, Bob Casey, I'd probably lie about me paying you. You go, boy!!

[Nine]

21. Are you drunk?

She lied because she was paid to lie, not because she wanted to create some fantasy about having an affair with someone important. This was a political hit.

[Dawson Leery]

14. This is the third time someone attempted to smear the Senator's good name.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. Shades of Nixon's dirty tricks

Or O'Keefe's. Take your pick.

[Doc Holliday]

18. I have never

found it equitable that, when a sex case is presented by the media, the victim receives a cloak of anonymity, while the alleged suspect (who is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law) gets his name plastered everywhere. If you're innocent and eventually acquitted, that's a hard thing to live down...saw it happen to a friend, and it wasn't right. He never really got his life back after being accused of and charged with something he didn't do. He came back from that fiasco maybe 85%.

[dipsydoodle]

19. Lawyer: Accusations against US senator are false

Republic (AP) -- A Dominican woman who once alleged in a video that she had sex with a New Jersey senator for money is now acknowledging that the allegations are false, according to a sworn statement released by a lawyer enmeshed in the scandal.

The attorney, Vinicio Castillo Seman, told reporters at a Monday press conference that the 23-year-old woman, identified as Nexis de los Santos, now claims in a sworn statement that she not only "never went to bed with" U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez but she never actually met him.

Castillo has been accused of hosting outings on his yacht in which the U.S. senator used the services of prostitutes. He has strongly denied the allegations and said he would seek a criminal probe into the source of the reports. On Monday, Castillo distributed copies of the woman's sworn statement to reporters. The woman did not attend.

According to Castillo, the 23-year-old woman claims that she and a friend were approached by another Dominican lawyer, Melanio Figueroa, who was allegedly responsible for manufacturing the accusations against Menendez. The two women recited the fabricated accusations on a video that was recorded without their consent, he said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CB_DOMINICAN_REPUBLIC_MENENDEZ?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-03-04-19-49-59

[JDPriestly]

20. In the future, let's take note of sex scandals but remember

they are not always true. What a mean thing to do to a candidate and his family. It's reprehensible.

[Kingofalldems]

22. Repubs not liking this one

[Festivito]

23. The Daily Caller claims the recantation is false.

Does this go deeper or is it never say die from the Orly Taitz school of defiance. I don't want to include the link. Google the rag's name and you'll see it under their website soon enough.

Statement from The Daily Caller:

The Washington Post falsely reported a story yesterday claiming our source had recanted her statement, without contacting The Daily Caller for comment before posting. In reality, the prostitute in the Post’s story does not appear to be one of the women we interviewed in 2012. Details provided by the prostitute identified as Ms. Santana in the Post story conflict with the taped interviews The Daily Caller posted on November 1, including the mention of a person whose name would not come to light for months afterward. In addition, Melanio Figueroa, the attorney for TheDC’s sources, has said the Post’s allegations are fabricated and that the affidavit is false. The Post would not provide TheDC with a copy of the affidavit, despite our request. We stand by our reporting.

[Kingofalldems]

24. Kick this one

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

25. I wonder if Tucker Carlson got his bow tie in a twist over David Vitter

especially when Diaper Dave admitted to criminally consorting with prostitutes. I tried Google but could find no evidence of Daily Caller articles on Vitter's transgressions.

[Kingofalldems]

27. Any further news on this?

[Tx4obama]

28. March 14th and March 18th article links below

March 14th
Robert Menendez Under Grand Jury Investigation: Report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/14/robert-menendez-investigation_n_2881144.html

AND...

March 18th
Dominican police: 3 women paid to make false claims about Menendez
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dominican-police-3-women-paid-to-make-false-claims-about-menendez/2013/03/18/f2ff253c-8fe7-11e2-9abd-e4c5c9dc5e90_story.html

That's all I've heard.