FBI Raids Office of Doctor Linked to New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez
The FBI raided the Florida office of a doctor linked to New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez (D). Agents spent hours removing evidence from the doctor’s office in West Palm Beach, Fla., though the reason for the raid isn’t clear. Sen. Menendez’s office acknowledged on Wednesday that he traveled on the doctor’s private plane. Staffers insist those trips were legal.
The doctor’s name first came up when the website The Daily Caller published an interview in November with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. The women claimed Menendez paid them for sex at the doctor’s mansion
in the country. Menendez denies those claims.
Update: Sen. Bob Menendez’s Office Releases Statement on Prostitute Allegations
Judge Andrew Napolitano said that it’s unlawful under U.S. federal law to travel to another country to have sex with someone under age 18, even if the sexual encounter there is lawful. Prostitution is lawful in the Dominican Republic, but not with children under the age of 16.
The senator has visited this five-start resort 20 times in two years. It’s owned by two brothers who grow sugar. Sen. Menendez voted on sugar price supports, but the judge posed the question, “Did the gifts from the plastic surgeon or the sugar barons’ influence of the senator’s votes? […] Maybe he was going to vote for the sugar price supports anyway.”
Judge Napolitano also pointed out that the FBI could be looking at independent criminal behavior on the part of the physician.
Last night’s raid came hours after a man in Jersey City pleaded guilty to giving the senator’s campaign $20,000 in illegal donations. The senator’s office reports he gave that money to charity.
