The chief spokeswoman for New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez flatly denied that her boss has ever paid for sex, and told The Daily Caller that she doubts the Democratic lawmaker has read new accusations from an escort who identified him as a former customer.
Tricia Enright gave mostly one-word answers during a two-minute phone call Monday, hanging up on TheDC after hearing an offer to meet privately to discuss Menendez’s fast-evolving sex scandal. (RELATED: Long-time escort confirms Menendez paid her for sex)
“Can the senator deny completely, and on the record,” TheDC asked, “that he has ever paid for sex?”
“Yes,” Enright replied.
Asked if she was certain, she replied, “I’m not engaging with you.”
Enright said she had read TheDC’s story about the escort who named the senator as a “hobbyist” who engaged in paid sexual activity with many escorts. Asked if Menendez had read the article, she replied, “I don’t think so.”
TheDC asked her if the senator would have a statement in response to the story. She replied, “No.”
Enright also said she had not seen Menendez’s remarks at a predominantly black church in Trenton, N.J. on Sunday. During a scheduled Black History Month event there, the senator suggested that his Hispanic heritage played a role in recent media reports on his alleged ethical lapses. (RELATED: Menendez plays race card, blames conservatives for scandals)
“I have felt the sting of discrimination,” he told approximately 300 worshipers, according to the Bergen Record. ”It has never been easy.”
The Newark Star-Ledger reported that Menendez quoted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his remarks Sunday
“Dr. King said that ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’” Menendez said. “In the end, I believe that justice will overcome the forces of darkness.”
Asked if it was fair to conclude that Menendez was implying his race was one reason journalists are examining closely Menendez’s alleged relationships with prostitutes, Enright said only, “I didn’t see it, honestly.”
When TheDC offered to meet with Enright to discuss the senator’s scandals, she hung up the phone.
The Daily Caller reported in November 2012 that two women in the Dominican Republic claimed Menendez paid them for sex.
An online dossier of email records released in January reinforced that story with testimonials from young women who said they were paid to have sex with Menendez and a longtime campaign donor, Dr. Salomon Melgen.
Those accounts included two from women who said they were underage when the paid trysts allegedly occurred. (RELATED: Dominican prostitute says Menendez “likes the youngest and newest girls”)
Menendez is New Jersey’s junior senator and the newly minted chair of the powerful U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
David Martosko is The Daily Caller’s executive editor. Conchita Sarnoff is an American writer publishing her first book on child sex trafficking in America in the fall of 2013. Follow David and follow Conchita and on Twitter.