NEWARK – A State Department official who met with Sen. Bob Menendez said he did not take Menendez seriously when the senator threatened to hold a hearing over his friend Dr. Salomon Melgen’s problems with the Dominican Republic, comparing the ultimatum to an exaggeration like “my wife threatens to kill me if I’m late for dinner.”

Former ambassador William Brownfield, who served as the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) from 2011 until the end of last month, admitted he obliquely raised the problems Menendez’s co-defendant Dr. Salomon Melgen had with a port security contract to the president of the Dominican Republic. The face-to-face meeting happened on Brownfield’s trip to Haiti and Miami about five months after the get together with Menendez. But, Brownfield said, the entire conversation took about one minute out of an hour-long sit-down with the Carribbean nation’s president.

Brownfield told President Danilo Medina ”it was important we have the support of the United States Congress and specifically key members I did not name” so that his bureau and the U.S. government could support Medina’s anti-drug objectives, Brownfield testified this afternoon. Medina had a brief response.

 “He said to me he understood what I was referring to and talking about,” Brownfield testified. “He had established a commission to address this issue and he hoped he would have good news soon.”

Still, the matter was unresolved by the end of January 2013, which is when the indictment against Menendez and Melgen states their criminal conspiracy ended.

Brownfield was a highly anticipated witness because he was a frequently mentioned but never seen part of the prosecution’s case. It took the defense calling Brownfield for jurors to hear his testimony.

One of about ten meetings Menendez had with Brownfield on various topics during the latter’s government career came in May 2012. An email shown to the jury said Menendez wanted to talk about issues in the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

“My recollection is that we focused on issues primarily related to security, law enforcement and drugs in the Carribbean…and that a very large portion of the discussion focused on the Dominican Republic,” Brownfield said.

Brownfield did not recall the senator mentioning Melgen’s company ICCSI by name, but they did talk about a U.S. “corporate entity” having trouble with the Republic’s government. Melgen had secured an exclusive contract to screen containers coming through the Dominican ports, but the government had not enforced the contract.

Brownfield downplayed the perceptions of other witnesses who said Menendez vowed to hold a Senate hearing if Melgen’s situation was not remedied.

“It would be extremely difficult to mobilize even a subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on such a limited and focused and narrow issue,” he said.

Brownfield said his trip to the Dominican Republic in October 2012 was not a follow-up on the Menendez meeting.

“No, that was not the intention or the basis for the trip,” Brownfield said.