Democratic Senator Seeks Probe Of Cuban Plot To Smear Him With Fake Story About Prostitutes

Allegations Fabrications first became public on Nov. 1, 2012, days before Democratic New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez stood for reelection, with The Daily Caller reporting that two women said they had met Menendez around Easter that year at the Casa de Campo resort and that he paid them for sex. The Daily Caller broke the “story” in which they said the two women were to be paid $500 for sex acts; but in the end they received only $100. So, the Democratic Senator was made out to be not only a cheating john, but a cheap one at that who hired under-aged girls.

That story was later debunked, and now Menendez is seeking a probe over an alleged plot to smear him.

The Washington Post reports:

 Sen. Robert Menendez is asking the Justice Department to pursue evidence obtained by U.S. investigators that the Cuban government concocted an elaborate plot to smear him with allegations that he cavorted with underage prostitutes, according to people familiar with the discussions.

In a letter sent to Justice Department officials, the senator’s attorney asserts that the plot was timed to derail the ­political rise of Menendez (D-N.J.), one of Washington’s most ardent critics of the Castro regime. At the time, Menendez was running for reelection and was preparing to assume the powerful chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

According to a former U.S. official with firsthand knowledge of government intelligence, the CIA had obtained credible evidence, including Internet protocol addresses, linking Cuban agents to the prostitution claims and to efforts to plant the story in U.S. and Latin American media.

What is it about Conservatives and Cuba? Also, Russia, but that’s another story.

The intelligence information indicated that operatives from Cuba’s Directorate of Intelligence helped create a fake tipster using the name “Pete Williams,” according to the former official. The tipster told FBI agents and others he had information about Menendez participating in poolside sex parties with underage prostitutes while vacationing at the Dominican Republic home of Salomon Melgen, a wealthy eye doctor, donor and friend of the senator.

A sample of some of the comments from The Daily Caller’s breaking story in 2012:

This fake scandal was created  to destroy Menendez’s personal and professional life.  The Conservative blog’s story quickly circulated in the right wing blogosphere.

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