...the senator’s attorney asserts that the plot was timed to derail the ­political rise of Menendez (D-N.J.), one of Washington’s most ardent critics of the Castro regime. At the time, Menendez was running for reelection and was preparing to assume the powerful chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

According to a former U.S. official with firsthand knowledge of government intelligence, the CIA had obtained credible evidence, including Internet protocol addresses, linking Cuban agents to the prostitution claims and to efforts to plant the story in U.S. and Latin American media.

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The Daily Caller’s story on Menendez and the Dominican prostitutes long ago passed beyond salvation. The initial flimsiness, the recantation and then the national police investigation — it’s more than enough evidence to issue a retraction and apology to readers and Menendez. Expecting the Daily Caller to do so would be like expecting the Environmental Protection Agency to hire 230,000 new employees.

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