Univison reporter Lourdes Meluzá got a sit-down interview with embattled New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez yesterday.
Menendez is accused of using his influence in a business deal in the Dominican Republic that benefited a longtime friend and donor whose Palm Beach County office was raided by federal agents in January.
More salaciously, the Daily Caller has been reporting on Menendez’s other alleged activities during trips to the Domincan Republic. And so, toward the end of the three-minute interview (more of which will air on Al Punto on Sunday) Meluzá asked Menendez about it. The original interview was in Spanish. This is Univision’s English translation:
Meluzá: Please, Senator, briefly, if you could state, on camera, your position regarding the accusations made by The Daily Caller and others that say that you went to the Dominican Republic and attended parties at Casa de Campo where prostitutes were present, minors, even. Could you reiterate your position and respond to this, please?
Menendez: This is the last time I’ll do this, the last time I do it. Because it’s gotten to a level where the press, the legitimate press, not the leftist or the right wing press, from the left, from the right or the left, where anonymous faceless and nameless people can make an accusation and the press will ask you this question. I could say something about you and say, “Hey, they’re saying this or that anonymously.” Those are lies intended to slander me, and they’re completely… not only absurd, but completely false.