Politics

NRSC: Menendez may have broken Senate ethics rules, federal campaign finance laws with alleged Dominican sex trip

Matthew Boyle Investigative Reporter
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The executive director of National Republican Senatorial Committee said Thursday that New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez “may have violated Senate ethics rules and federal campaign finance laws” with his alleged sex trip to the Dominican Republic.

The Daily Caller first reported early on Thursday that two women from the Dominican Republic are alleging Menendez paid them for sex around Easter time this year at Casa de Campo, an expensive 7,000-acre resort in the Dominican Republic. (RELATED — Women: Sen. Bob Menendez paid us for sex in the Dominican Republic)

The two women claimed Menendez agreed to pay them $500 for sex acts, and that they each received only $100.

NRSC executive director Rob Jesmer said in a statement that the allegations against Menendez “are very serious and deserve examination.”

Senate ethics rules and campaign finance laws could apply to the question of how Menendez got to the Dominican Republic, and to his use of a campaign donor’s resources — including a private plane and a home at Casa de Campo.

Menendez donor Salomon Melgen, an ophthalmologist and owner of an eye clinic in Florida, appears to have lent Menendez the use of his plane on several occasions. It is known that Sen. Menendez has been a regular visitor to the Dominican Republic. Menendez was a guest at Melgen’s Casa de Campo home on at least one occasion, according to a news account.

Menendez’s GOP challenger, Republican state Sen. Joe Kyrillos, has called on the senator to release his travel records in the wake of this scandal breaking. The NRSC’s Jesmer echoed that call. (RELATED: Kyrillos demands release of travel records)

“Fortunately, there is a simple way for Senator Menendez to begin addressing these questions, and that is by releasing his schedule and travel records related to Easter Week of this year, as well as the other dates in question,” Jesmer said in the statement.

Menendez spokeswoman Tricia Enright has refused to answer any questions on the subject. “We’re not going to respond to a completely false accusation,” she wrote by email on Wednesday evening.

Enright has not answered when asked if Menendez will release his travel records.

Jesmer said Menendez’s “continued refusal” to release his travel records “should rightfully raise questions in the minds of every New Jersey voter.”

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