A spokesman says that U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson never asked the National Parks Service to cut down trees to preserve the view from a Washington condo.

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In fact, no trees were cut, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

The Florida Democrat called the head of the National Parks Service, Fran Mainella, when he was thinking about buying the condo in 2002. He wanted to know about the age of the trees along the George Washington Parkway and whether they were likely to get taller or bushier.

Mainella, an old friend of Nelson's from her days working in Florida, referred him to an assistant, P. Daniel Smith. Nelson's query recently came to light when Smith became embroiled in a scandal because he gave Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins, permission to cut down 120 trees near his mansion.

A report on the Snyder incident included a statement that Nelson had asked about cutting trees down.

"He did not request to cut down any trees -- not the first twig," a Nelson spokesman said.