Escort says Menendez sex claims were lies

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WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- Allegations Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez had sex with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic were a lie, court papers indicate.

An escort who had said in a video the New Jersey Democrat paid her for sex told Dominican authorities she was really paid to make up the story the week before the November election, court papers indicate.

Menendez told reporters Monday he didn't know the details of the two new statements.

"But as I've said all along, there are obviously some people, some interests, using right-wing blogs that have been perpetuating smears about me, and I hope that all the truth comes out, because they are nothing but that -- smears." he said.

"I've always said that these are all false -- they're smears -- and so I look forward to seeing whatever the Dominican courts have that prove what I've said all along," he said.

Nexis de los Santos Santana, 23, said a local lawyer named Miguel Galvan approached her and a fellow escort and hired them to help frame Menendez and a top donor, Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye surgeon, affidavits obtained by The Washington Post stated.

Galvan explained to her he needed a false account for a divorce case, the affidavits stated.

De los Santos said she was surreptitiously taped implicating Menendez, Melgen and prominent Dominican lawyer Vinicio Castillo Selman, Melgen's cousin, in hiring prostitutes, the affidavits stated.

"Those are my words and that is me, but it does not reflect the truth," de los Santos said in her affidavit.

"I never slept with Mr. Menendez nor Mr. Melgin," she said, adding she never met or even saw the senator. "So therefore I don't have any relationship of any kind with the aforementioned people."

Galvan said in his statement the other lawyer misled him about the tape's purpose, saying he was representing a client in a divorce case and simply needed someone to confirm infidelity on video.

De los Santos and Galvan are now seeking a protective order and immunity in the court's investigation, the Post said.

The videotaped claims of two women, made with their faces obscured, were posted on the conservative website The Daily Caller the week before the November election.

The site reported "the two women said they met Menendez around Easter at Casa de Campo, an expensive 7,000-acre resort in the Dominican Republic. ... They claimed Menendez agreed to pay them $500 for sex acts, but in the end they each received only $100."

Daily Caller Editor Tucker Carlson had no immediate comment on the affidavits.