FBI raids West Palm Beach office of doctor tied to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez Read

[clevergirl]

Daily Caller has had to take up the mantel of investigative journalism since our MSM aka OMG (Obama Media Group) has decided to fawn over the president and every other liberal politician instead of report on them.


By Marc Caputo, Jay Weaver and Scott Hiaasen
[email protected]

FBI agents late Tuesday night raided the West Palm Beach business of an eye doctor suspected of providing free trips and even underage Dominican Republic prostitutes to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. — who has denied what he calls the “fallacious allegations.”

Agents gathered at the medical-office complex of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a contributor to Menendez and other prominent politicians, to start hauling away potential evidence in several vans.

The investigation is believed to be focusing on Melgen’s finances and the allegations about Menendez’s trips and contact with prostitutes. A spokesman for Menendez could not be reached for comment, nor could Melgen.

Read more here: FBI raids West Palm Beach office of doctor tied to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez - Florida - MiamiHerald.com

 

[waltky]

Menendez womens disappear into thin air...

Following the trail of Sen. Robert Menendez scandal leads to dead end in Dominican Republic
Saturday, 02.02.13 - Women named by tipster exist and were there — but not anymore

The shadowy tipster who made explosive allegations involving U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic named names. He gave descriptions of the women, and in some cases, phone numbers and addresses. Despite those details, the women are nowhere to be found. A week after the claims made headlines in the United States and on this Caribbean island, the alleged prostitutes have disappeared. An attorney who once represented two of the women said he hadn’t spoken to them in months, and then stopped returning phone calls himself. A two-bedroom apartment where some of the alleged liaisons took place is now vacant. Little remains here beyond hazy memories.

No concrete links have been made between Menendez and any prostitutes. Still, the allegations from the tipster, who identified himself as Peter Williams, were serious enough to launch an FBI probe. And shreds of evidence in Santo Domingo show that, at the very least, the women Williams described exist. Take an apartment in Santo Domingo’s upscale Gazcue neighborhood that Williams said was used for sexual liaisons. In April emails to a watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Williams alleged that Dr. Salomon Melgen, a friend and major campaign donor to Menendez, rented a unit for a Brazilian prostitute named Maria and a Colombian prostitute named Geraldine.

The apartment exists. When reached by phone, the landlady said that two young women named Geraldine and Maria had indeed lived there last year, and said the nationalities matched. However, the landlady, who declined to be named, did not believe the women to be prostitutes — she said she thought they were beautiful foreign exchange students — and had never heard of Menendez or Melgen visiting the apartment. But she complained that the women had nearly destroyed the unit, even leaving the wallpaper torn up when they abandoned the apartment last year. “They behaved very badly,” she said. The apartment has since been rented to others and is now back on the market for $1,000 a month.

The FBI is investigating the sex allegations, some of which involve minors. Prostitution is not illegal in the Dominican Republic. The investigation is also probing trips Menendez took on the eye doctor’s private plane, and the senator’s gift disclosures. Last week, Menendez acknowledged that he had traveled to the Dominican Republic with the doctor on three occasions, and cut a check for more than $58,000 to reimburse him for two of the flights.

Read more here: SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic: Following the trail of Sen. Robert Menendez scandal leads to dead end in Dominican Republic - Political Currents - MiamiHerald.com

See also:

NJ newspaper urges Sen. Menendez to ‘break his silence’
2/04/13 New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez (D) is facing pressure from his state’s largest newspaper to address a cloud of scandalous allegations.

In an editorial Sunday, the Newark Star-Ledger said the scandal surrounding the senator raised “serious doubts about his fitness to serve as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.” “Before he takes that post, Menendez needs to break his silence and explain himself,” wrote the editorial board. Menendez is facing a Senate ethics probe and an FBI investigation into a donor, who is suspected of providing him with free trips on his private jet and underage prostitutes during visits to the Dominican Republic, according to reports from the media website The Daily Caller and a complaint filed with the Justice Department by a watchdog group.

Menendez’s office acknowledged last week that the senator reimbursed the donor for two previously undisclosed flights on his private jet, but has denied the allegations, claiming they are politically motivated. Ethics concerns grew with a New York Times report that Menendez helped the donor, Dr. Salomon Melgen, win a contract for a Florida company he held an ownership stake in. The senator has yet to address the allegations. In the editorial, the Star-Ledger dismissed the allegations about prostitution, saying there was “no credible evidence to support that accusation.” “That charge emerged a few days before November’s election, and has all the markings of a dirty trick,” the paper says.

But the editorial raises questions about Menendez’s relationship with Melgen and the undisclosed trips he took on the donor’s private jet. “We are supposed to believe this was an oversight, as a spokesman for Menendez claims. Sure. Why would anyone remember something so routine and mundane as a rich guy whisking you off to an exotic vacation in the Caribbean in a private jet? If the senator has no better explanation, he will richly deserve the reprimand the full Senate will no doubt impose on him,” says the editorial. The paper also calls on Menendez to address the Times report, questioning if the senator used “his position on the Foreign Affairs Committee to advocate for his friend’s business interests.”

The allegations come as the New Jersey senator is taking a prominent role as a member of a bipartisan Senate group pushing an immigration-overhaul framework. On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he had the “utmost confidence” in Menendez and said he believed his colleague had done “nothing wrong.” “As to the rest of the investigation, that will have to be handled the way they're all handled around here, in-depth, and the Ethics Committee are in the paper today. They're taking a look at it,” said Reid.

Read more: NJ newspaper urges Sen. Menendez to ?break his silence? - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

 

[Inthemiddle]

This is disturbing. Accusations without a shred of evidence. Starting to look very fishy.