Sen. Menendez on CREW’s ‘Under Investigation’ report
By David Martosko
From The Daily Caller
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the liberal advocacy group that was the first to learn of prostitution allegations against Sen. Bob Menendez in April 2012, added his name this week to its published list of federal lawmakers facing official investigations into their conduct.
CREW listed Menendez for the first time Wednesday in its periodically updated report, ”Under Investigation,” noting that the Senate Ethics committee is investigating him for “accepting gifts from a donor who flew him to the Dominican Republic on a private jet.”
The group did not make mention of an FBI investigation into the New Jersey Democrat, reportedly focusing on the question of whether he engaged in illicit sex with underage prostitutes while in the Caribbean nation.
TheDC reported on January 25 that the “Under Investigation” report did not include Menendez. CREW describes the report as “a list of Congress members likely under investigation by the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the House Ethics Committee, the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, the Office of Congressional Ethics, and in some cases, the Federal Election Commission.”
CREW did not respond to emails asking why it omitted the FBI investigation when it added Menendez to its report.
Google’s cached copy of “Under Investigation” from January 25 indicates that Menendez was not listed in the report then. Other archival copies at archive.org, dating from April, May and June 2012, also do not include Menendez.
In July 2012 CREW sent a letter to the FBI and the Justice Department’s criminal division, asking for an investigation. (RELATED: Emails show FBI investigating Menendez)
That investigation, The Daily Caller reported Wednesday, is based in New Jersey, Menendez’s home state.
