Sen. Robert Menendez denounced allegations that he had flown to the Dominican Republic to solicit prostitutes as “smears” from “right-wing blogs” Monday.

“The smears, the smears that right-wing blogs have been pushing since the election,” the New Jersey Democrat told CNN. “That is totally unsubstantiated. It’s amazing to me that anonymous, nameless, faceless individuals on a website can drive that kind of story into the mainstream. But that’s what they’ve done successfully. Now, nobody can find them, no one ever met them, nobody ever talked to them, but that’s where we’re at. The bottom line is all of those smears are absolutely false, and that’s the bottom line.”

Menendez had previously denied the allegations in a statement last week, calling them “politically motivated.”