TRENTON — In a story with more twists and turns by the day, Dominican police said today an attorney linked to three women who claimed — and then recanted — that they had been paid to have sex with U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, now alleges he was paid to set the whole thing up by a conservative political website.

The website quickly denied it paid anyone any money, and called the lawyer a liar.

The convoluted tale, sounding like a bad episode of "The Jerry Springer Show," comes after the women told prosecutors in the Dominican Republic earlier this week that they had lied about their involvement with Menendez, in return for cash — in a setup they were told involved a divorce case.

The New Jersey Democrat, under the shadow of what he called a "smear campaign" for months now, called upon U.S. authorities to investigate.

The latest shoe dropping in the ongoing saga comes after Jose Polanco, who heads the Dominican National Police, told the Associated Press a local attorney admitted his role. He said someone claiming to be with the conservative website, the Daily Caller, paid him to find prostitutes who would lie about having sex with Menendez.



The Daily Caller and several other news organizations were approached last summer by an anonymous tipster, claiming Menendez had repeatedly flown to the Dominican Republic aboard the private jet of Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist and major campaign contributor to Menendez, for a series of trysts with prostitutes.

Three women were ultimately made available for video interviews with several journalists. But only the Daily Caller posted the interviews online, days before the November election after several news organizations — including ABC News — expressed skepticism over their claims as well as the tipster, who never identified himself.

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Polanco said today that local attorney Melanio Figueroa claimed he was promised $5,000 by someone named "Carlos" to find prostitutes, but was paid only $2,000 after finding the women.

The Daily Caller, in a statement, said the accusations made by Figueroa were "categorically false."

"At no point did any money change hands between the Daily Caller and any sources or individuals connected with this investigation, nor did anyone named Carlos travel to the Dominican Republic on behalf of The Daily Caller," said the website. "As recently as two weeks ago, Figueroa was on record with another news outlet as saying the women he represented were telling the truth about their initial allegations against Senator Menendez."

Tucker Carlson, the conservative commentator who runs the Daily Caller, also issued a strong statement of denial.

"It seems clear to me Figueroa is under pressure to change his story. What I know for certain is this claim is a lie. The Daily Caller never paid anyone, was never asked to pay anyone and of course never would pay anyone for this story," said Carlson.

A spokesman for Menendez said the evidence continues to mount that the allegations against the senator were based on lies.

"Dominican authorities continue to investigate who paid to orchestrate those lies, and based on the evidence they have already unearthed, we hope the appropriate U.S. authorities will join them," said the spokesman, Paul Brubaker. "Someone funded this smear campaign, which ABC has reported was peddled by Republican operatives, and given that some involved may have made false statements to a federal law enforcement agency, it should be investigated fully."

Police earlier this week said the women in the videos were told by Figueroa and another lawyer that they were working on a divorce case, and were told to make false claims about having sex with Menendez. They said they received just over $1,000 for participating in the videotaping.

But while the prostitution allegations have been steadily falling apart, Menendez’s ties to Melgen are still the focus of growing attention.

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The Senate ethics committee is investigating the senator’s use of Melgen’s plane, after Menendez reimbursed his friend $58,500 for two round-trip flights to the Dominican Republic that he never reported.

And in the wake of an FBI raid of Melgen’s medical practice in West Palm Beach in what is believed to be an investigation into fraudulent Medicare billing, questions have been raised over whether Menendez interceded on behalf of Melgen.

The senator, at a subcommittee hearing last summer, also urged the administration to help resolve a contractual dispute on behalf of a port security contract in the Dominican Republic, held by a Melgen company.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.