Videos attributed to Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) depict New Jerseyans who are standing by him through his bribery trial, but they fail to disclose the supporters' personal ties to the senator.
Menendez is currently in the midst of a federal trial, charged with fraud and bribery. Federal prosecutors have accused the senator of receiving lavish gifts from Florida doctor Salomon Melgen in exchange for providing Melgen perks, including visas for the doctor's foreign girlfriends. Menendez and Melgen have pled not guilty to all charges.
A YouTube page, attributed to "Senator Menendez," began posting videos two days ago related to the senator and his trial. One video, entitled "Supporters of Sen. Bob Menendez Speak Out," features interviews with three women in front of the courthouse where Menendez is presumably being tried.
"NJ community members Ileana Portela, Gina Diaz, and Carolyn Fefferman speak about why they support Senator Bob Menendez," the video's description reads.
Two of these women, however, are not just "NJ community members," but also have notable ties to the senator.
One of the women, Fefferman, is Menendez's former employee. According to Fefferman's consultancy, "Carolyn Fefferman Consulting," she spent eight years with Menendez in a senior advisory capacity.
"Carolyn Gehl Fefferman, Esq. has been working in the area of law and social policy for the past ten years, first in the private sector and then for eight years for U.S. Senator Robert Menendez" the page reads. "As Senior Advisor to Senator Menendez, she focused on a number of policy issues including environment, energy, health, seniors, transportation, and foreign affairs … Carolyn represented the Senator at meetings and events, spoke on his behalf, analyzed legislation and regulations, drafted policy-related correspondence, wrote speeches, coordinated events and was involved with grant application review."
The page also notes Fefferman "served as Senator Menendez's liaison to the Jewish community for eight years."
The video only shows Feffferman claiming Menendez's innocence to a group of reporters, and does not disclose her connections to the senator.
"I think that he's going to be exonerated, and I'm sorry that he has to go through this," Fefferman says in the video.
Another woman featured, Diaz, is a contributor to Menendez's campaign, having given at least $2,000, and as much as $4,800 to the senator.
In the video, Davis appears to tell reporters she has known the New Jersey lawmaker for "about 15, 16 years." No mention is made of her contributions.
"I think this is a tragedy, just tragic, that they're doing this to my friend," Davis says. "I really just can't believe this is happening. It's quite surreal, and it's really unfair."
Although the channel could not be definitively established as created by Menendez's staff or campaign, Menendez did tweet—from his official campaign twitter—videos from the page containing the interviews with Davis and another woman .
As of publication, the Washington Free Beacon was still awaiting comment from the Menendez campaign as to the origin of the channel, and on whether it is an official campaign social media account.