Daily Caller Executive Editor David Martosko said Tuesday that the publication was verifying with its source whether a woman who claimed she was paid for sex by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) was compensated to make the allegation. A Washington Post story published Monday claims she was. But Martosko refused to state that the Daily Caller’s version of events was in doubt.
“Have you gone back to your source who set this up to verify these women were not paid?” CNN’s Brianna Keilar asked Martosko.
“We’re doing that today. And I’d be more than happy to come back on the air and talk to you about it,” Martosko said.
Martosko contended that the initial Caller article had been backed up by a Miami Herald report in which Dominican attorney Melanio Figueroa denied taking part in the alleged scheme.
Figueroa told the Miami Herald on Monday that those allegations are “totally false”:
“It was a case that I handled for these women and faithfully represented them for what they said,” he said.
Figueroa said that it has been months since he has had contact with any of the women who appeared in the videos and that he no longer represented them. “These are lies by Galván,” Figueroa said. “What he is saying is a lie.”
Martosko pointed to those quotes in the Miami Herald Monday as proof that the Daily Caller’s story stands and said they verified their story when they initially ran it. Asked about the possibility that Figueroa, who is implicated in the affidavit, is lying, Martosko retorted, “Look, it’s possible the sky is orange, that doesn’t mean it’s so.”
A woman, Nexis de los Santos Santana, and a Dominican lawyer, Miguel Galván, said in an affidavit cited by the Washington Post that Figueroa had approached them about filming the video incriminating Menendez as part of a divorce proceeding and offered to pay them.
*Correction: This post has been updated to correct a quote from Martosko.
