
Judge Rejects Menendez Claim Of ‘Unconstitutional’ Search Warrants
Disgraced Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) received bad news in his sweeping bribery case on Monday. A federal judge ruled that search warrants executed to gather evidence pertaining to the Democratic scandal were in fact constitutional.
Those search warrants uncovered gold bars and wads of cash at the Menendez residence. Prosecutors said the search in June 2022 found more than $480,000 in cash and gold bars valued at over $100,000.
Several searches of his home and email accounts were ruled by Judge Sidney H. Stein as lawful.
That finding countered defense arguments that the warrants were “riddled with material misrepresentation and omissions that deceived the authorized magistrate judge.”
The Democrat’s attorneys also claimed that prosecutors “actively distorted” evidence in the case.
Warrants were issued between January and July of 2022, with a final warrant coming last September for cell phone records. Stein ruled that there were no significant or intended omissions to the requests, and he further rejected a similar appeal from one of Menendez’s co-defendants.
Judge Rejects Sen. Menendez’s Claim That Search Warrants Were ‘Unconstitutional’ In Bribery Case https://t.co/yxw57lwJSB #OAN
— One America News (@OANN) March 5, 2024
Investigators at one point discovered a Google search for the price of a kilo of gold.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian, were indicted last fall on accusations of receiving over $600,000 in bribes. These inducements are believed to have originated from a trio of New Jersey businessmen acting on behalf of Egyptian interests.
The senator is accused of acting as an agent of Egypt for four years beginning in June 2018. Menendez was also hit with another indictment earlier this year for allegedly accepting gifts for service to a foreign government. Both he and his wife pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Stein noted that the affidavits the search warrants were based on only needed to demonstrate probable cause. The judge said that threshold “is amply satisfied by the documentary evidence described in the affidavit.”
The Democrat took another blow last Friday when one of his co-defendants, businessman Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty to numerous federal charges. They included conspiracy to commit bribery, obstruction of justice and tax evasion.
Two other businessmen charged along with Menendez and his wife pleaded not guilty.