WASHINGTON (AP) — A spokeswoman for Robert Menendez says the senator hopes U.S. authorities join their Dominican counterparts in investigating the origin of reports he paid women in the Dominican Republic for sex.

Menendez spokeswoman Tricia Enright says Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, has maintained all along such claims are false and part of a smear campaign.

Her comments came after a Dominican police spokesman said Monday that three women were paid to falsely claim in videotaped interviews that Menendez paid them money for sex.

Enright says it’s a crime to intentionally make false reports to a federal law enforcement agency.

The Washington Post has separately reported that Menendez is under a federal grand jury investigation over reports that he traded favors with a prominent campaign donor.

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