FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 28, 2013 file photograph, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., right, and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., left, announce with other senators that they have reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to rewrite the nation's immigration laws, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington. Menendez said Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, that allegations that he engaged with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic are false "smears." He said he has done nothing wrong and that allegations otherwise are "totally unsubstantiated." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Menendez says he called gov't in way to help donor
FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 28, 2013 file photograph, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., right, and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., left, announce with other senators that they have reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to rewrite the nation's immigration laws, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington. Menendez said Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, that allegations that he engaged with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic are false "smears." He said he has done nothing wrong and that allegations otherwise are "totally unsubstantiated." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
By SUZANNE GAMBOA and KELLI KENNEDY
Associated Press /
February 7, 2013
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Melgen has recently requested that online flight-tracking services block records showing the history of his plane’s travel. Those flight reports, which had been publicly available as recently as this week, had logged the times and locations of his Canadair CL-600’s arrivals and departures since he acquired the aircraft in July 2009. The Federal Aviation Administration allows aircraft owners and operators to request flight-tracking information be blocked from the public.
The events have engulfed Menendez, 59, just as he assumed the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, succeeding former Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who resigned last week to become secretary of state.
Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of Menendez’s for many years. Last year, Melgen’s practice gave $700,000 to Majority PAC, a super political action committee set up to fund Democratic candidates for Senate. Aided by Melgen’s donation, the super PAC became the largest outside political committee contributing to Menendez’s re-election, spending more than $582,000 on the senator’s behalf.
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Kennedy reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Stephen Braun, jack Gillum and Andrew Taylor also contributed from Washington.
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Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations (at) ap.org
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