WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday threw his support behind New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, a fellow Democrat under fire for his chummy relationship with a longtime donor.
“I have confidence he did nothing wrong, but that’s what investigations are all about,” Reid (D-Nev.) said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Menendez took free rides to the Dominican Republic on the private plane of Dr. Solomon Melgen, a South Florida eye surgeon, in 2010.
Senate ethics rules require that such trips be paid for or declared as gifts. Menendez’s office said it reimbursed Melgen $58,500 for the trips — but only recently, two years after the fact. The FBI raided Melgen’s West Palm Beach office last week.
Reid called Menendez an important figure on Capitol Hill.
“He was a leader in the House. He’s been a leader in the Senate. He’s chairman of [the Foreign Relations Committee] . . . And he is also an integral part of what we do with immigration reform,” Reid said.
“So I have the utmost confidence in him.”