Senator denies seeing prostitutes in DR

MIAMI (WSVN) -- The New Jersey senator implicated in a prostitution scandal with a local doctor has emphatically denied any wrongdoing.

In an interview Monday, the high-ranking democrat and new chair of the Foreign Relations Committee dismissed the allegations, calling them "smears." "It's amazing to me," said Menendez, "that anonymous, nameless, faceless, individuals on a website can drive that type of story into the mainstream."

Menendez has faced scrutiny over ties to a longtime friend, a Dominican doctor who has an optometry office in South Florida, who over the years has given the senator campaign contributions.

Menendez has admitted to accepting two free trips to the Dominican Republic aboard Salomon Melgen's private jet though he said last month he paid about $60,000 to reimburse him.

The FBI last weekend raided Melgen's West Palm Beach offices. Authorities have not said why, though a conservative website reported Melgen provided Menendez with prostitutes and a private villa during his visits to the DR.

The woman named in connection with all this has denied ever meeting the two men.

Monday night, the New Jersey senator at the center of the alleged scandal also denied it.

(Copyright 2013 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)