The Cubans, the prostitutes, the senator, and The Daily Caller
The competition was stiff, but there was no stronger/stranger headline yesterday than “CIA is said to link Cuba to plot to smear senator.” Five Washington Post reporters broke the story that Cuban-American (and resolutely pro-embargo) Sen. Bob Menendez was “asking the Justice Department to pursue evidence obtained by U.S. investigators that the Cuban government concocted an elaborate plot to smear him with allegations that he cavorted with underage prostitutes.” It had been more than a year since sources in the Menendez “scandal” recanted or disappeared; now, it was reported that the mysterious “Pete Williams,” who tried to pitch the story to several outlets but only succeeded with the Daily Caller, was a golem created by “operatives from Cuba’s Directorate of Intelligence.” (Weigel/Slate)
The story never had legs. The prostitute said that. She was paid to tell the story. The Menendez haters repeated it anyway. Have any of them backed away from it? Where are the apology blog posts?
are you certain Menendez didn’t bribe the girls to change their story ?
Just because they were “paid to tell the story” doesn’t necessarily mean that the story isn’t true. It just means that they were paid to tell the story. Possibly even paid to retract the story.