New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is seeking to have much of the evidence in his bribery prosecution thrown out, claiming that investigators illegally searched his residence as retaliation for defeating a prior prosecution in his home state.
Menendez’s lawyers argue that the FBI violated his Fourth Amendment rights and that evidence collected from the searches should be suppressed.
The senator is now charged with accepting bribes of cash, gold bars, and a luxury car over the last five years.
“The government’s apparent zeal to ‘get back’ at Senator Menendez for defeating its prior prosecution has overwhelmed its sound judgment,” his attorneys said. “The FBI ran roughshod over the Senator’s Fourth Amendment rights, and all evidence collected from those searches must therefore be suppressed.”
His lawyers also assert that search warrants used to seize his personal belongings were riddled with misrepresentations and omissions, and claim that FBI agents ransacked his home during a raid in June 2022.
“Agents broke down doors (even, in some cases, where the doors were unlocked) and tore apart closets, wardrobes, dressers and other storage locations in the home, flipped over documents and rifled through file folders,” they wrote.
“The FBI seized all manner of things, including the cash and gold bars that the government has made the centerpiece of its case.”
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