FBI sources: Menendez investigation moved to Newark, NJ

THE DAILY CALLER ^ | 2/6/13 | Martosko and Johnson

[Liz]

Two FBI sources have told The Daily Caller that the bureau’s inquiry into Democratic New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is now based in New Jersey, not Miami. One added that pressure is mounting from the highest levels of the Justice Department to pursue the investigation.

The change of focus away from the bureau’s Miami field office indicates that the government is focused primarily on Sen. Menendez — and not on his longtime donor Dr. Salomon Melgen, as political observers have speculated.

Menendez is embroiled in a scandal sparked by allegations that he slept with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. (RELATED: Handwritten account recalls sex with Menendez “when I was 16 years old”)

The Daily Caller first reported in 2012 on the allegations, publishing videotaped interviews with two women, neither of whom was under 18 years old, who said they were paid to have sex with the senator.

One source, a current agent in an East Coast field office, declined to be quoted but told TheDC that the initial investigation began in Miami and was later moved to Newark, New Jersey. He would not specify who was managing the investigation or when it was moved north.

The other source is a recently retired agent with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Documents published online in January by an anonymous whistle-blower included emails to and from an FBI agent based in Miami. (RELATED: Dominican prostitute says Menendez “likes the youngest and newest girls”)

“I don’t have a comment,” Special Agent Barbara Woodruff told TheDC from the Newark Field Office.”Per DOJ policy, we cannot comment on the existence or non-existence of any investigation.”

Citing its own sources close to Menendez, PolitickerNJ reported Monday evening that the FBI has had no contact with the senator about its investigation.

Menendez has forcefully denied any involvement with prostitutes of any age, though he recently reimbursed Melgen $58,500 for two private jet trips to the Dominican Republican in 2010.

[Liz]

Sen Menendez's frequest assertions are implausible on their face. He claims his failure to repay Melgen was "sloppy" or an "oversight." His annual salary is $174,000. Menendez planned to fly Melgen's private jet and pay $58,000---a big percentage of his net worth? It is obvious that he never intended to pay Melgen back.

Capitol Hill Spring break flight records suggest fourth unpaid Menendez flight

Flight records obtained by Breitbart News show Dem donor Dr. Salomon Melgen’s private jet was in New Jersey near Sen. Bob Menendez’s home on April 8, 2012--Easter Sunday last year. From there, it flew straight to the Dominican Republic.

Menendez and his staff have not answered when asked repeatedly whether the Senator was on that flight. They also have not provided any accounting as to where Menendez was on Easter Sunday, either. The flight records show Melgen’s plane was in the Dominican Republic on a frequent basis.

The jet was there late March until April 2, at which point Melgen’s plane flew from La Romana International airport in the Dominican Republic to West Palm Beach. The flight path records, compiled by FlightAware, show Melgen’s plane stayed in West Palm Beach for a few days after that. Melgen lives in the West Palm Beach area.

On April 6, 2012, Melgen’s plane left Palm Beach International airport for The Dominican Republic’s La Romana International Airport again. It stayed on the ground there for half an hour--after landing at around 6 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time. The plane took off and flew back to West Palm Beach that evening.

It is unclear why the plane flew to the Dominican Republic and back that night. After landing back in West Palm Beach at around 9:22 Eastern Daylight Time on the evening of April 6, 2012, it sat in its hangar for a day. Then, on the morning of April 8, 2012--Easter Sunday--at 8:56 a.m., the plane left Palm Beach International airport. At 11:30 a.m., it landed at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

Teterboro is an airport meant for private jets and chartered flights, and is a 20-minute cab ride from Menendez’s New Jersey home. After landing at Teterboro at 11:30 a.m. EDT, the plane sat for about an hour and ten minutes--just enough time to wait for someone to reach the airport from about 20 minutes away. At 12:50 p.m., Melgen’s plane took off for Las Americas International Airport in the Dominican Republic.

Menendez’s public schedule--available on his Senate website--puts him in New Jersey the night before that flight, at an Easter Musical entitled God’s Masterpiece at Roselle Park Middle School in Roselle Park, New Jersey. Menendez does not appear to have had any public events until several days later. The Senate was not in session from March 31 until April 15.

It is during this timeframe that two Dominican Republic prostitutes alleged, in interviews with this reporter who broke the story for The Daily Caller before joining Breitbart News after the election, that they were under-paid to have sex with Menendez. The activity allegedly took place at Casa de Campo, a luxurious resort in the Dominican Republic around Easter-time in 2012. Casa de Campo is about an hour's drive from Las Americas airport. While Menendez denies soliciting prostitutes in the Dominican Republic--including during that alleged Easter Sunday incident--he and his staff have not yet offered any alternate explanation as to where the Senator was on Easter.

If Sen. Menendez was on that plane during Easter weekend--or any other time other than those three trips to which he and his staff have already admitted--he and his staff will have misled the American people. “Senator Menendez has traveled on Dr. Melgen’s plane on three occasions, all of which have been paid for and reported appropriately,” Menendez’s staff admitted last week.

When Menendez admitted to the other three flights, he paid Melgen’s company back for two of them--a total of $58,500. That amount--paid via a check from Menendez’s personal account--is between 8.6 and 18.5 percent of his entire net worth, and a little more than a third of his annual salary, a huge chunk of cash from the senator’s pocket.

Paul Brubaker, a Menendez spokesman based in New Jersey, told a local news reporter that the reason why the Senator paid for these trips “out of his own pocket” and not through his official office or campaign accounts was so they did not have to be reported to official authorities.

SOURCE http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/02/03/The-Mystery-Flight-of-Bob-Menendez

[Liz]

HERE'S WHAT SEN MENENDEZ DOES NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

(a) The DR is an impoverished Caribbean nation notorious for corrupt governments and strong-arm dictators.

(b) Despite US politicans' fondness for the "amenities" at its numerous posh resorts (incuding the lavish Casa de Campo owned by the Fanjuls--sugar billionaires), and US celebrities relaxing at posh villas spending big bucks there, the DR has no safety net or state-sponsored job creation for its largely impoverished citizenry.

(c) The one million Dominican citizens currently living in the US send home about a billion dollars annually---which is considered by the corrupt do-nothing DR govt to be a major source of state revenue.

(d) A steady exodus leaves for US shores lured by the endless US gravy train---encouraged by the DR govt---and the prospect of millions more sent back home.

(e) Sen Menendez's business partners in the Dominican govt have cunnningly figured out the financial benefits to be derived from amnesty---establishing a permanent Dem majority of Third World "pressure groups" exchanging votes for foreign aid.

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IMPOVERISHED COUNTRIES W/ CITIZENS IN THE US: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico (stateside), Salvador, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela.

WHAT IS THE DOLLAR AMT OF REVENUE FOREIGN GOVTS ARE RECEIVING FROM THEIR LOYALISTS LIVING OFF US TAXPAYERS?

WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF FOREIGN FINANCIAL DEALS US politicians will exchange for yes votes on amnesty?

The National Association of Latino Electoral and Appointed Officials, La Raza, Voto Latino, The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, etc, (all pushing free-for-all amnesty) need to come clean WRT sub rosa deals they've made with foreign governments.

[miss marmelstein]

The great Liz is back! I’m writing you privately about this.

[Liz]

(blush)

[jazusamo]

the FBI has had no contact with the senator about its investigation.

Uh ohh...Sources close to Menendez may not be able to say that much longer with the investigation now in NJ, what a shame:)

[Fresh Wind]

Hmmmm. Could it be that Menendez is being thrown under the bus to protect this Melgen character? If so, what else is Melgen involved with, and who else needs to be protected?

[Liz]

On the contrary-—Menendez is throwing Melgen under the bus to save himself.

[cardinal4]

I have always contended that wire services (Western Union, Moneygram, etc) should slap a 25% fee or tax on all US currency wired to Mexico. At least we would keep some of the “untaxed” money that illegals earn and send home to Mexico..

[Fresh Wind]

Perhaps, but if this shift in emphasis is being directed “from the highest levels of the Justice Department” (I translate that as “the Obama Administration”), I just wonder what else is going on.

[Prince of Space]

If Menendez resigns, wouldn’t Christie have to appoint someone? Now that he’s BFF with Zero, who knows what he’ll do. Another Freeper posited it might be a way for someone like Booker to get more gravitas by being promoted to Senator, thereby paving the way for an upcoming presidential run. If Zero didn’t want Menendez gone, this would have disappeared already.

[Fresh Wind]

I guess Menendez isn’t dark enough for King Barry’s taste.