Judge rejects Sen. Bob Menendez’s claims that search warrants in bribery case were unconstitutional

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Monday rejected U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s claims that search warrants that led to corruption charges and the discovery of gold bars and cash at his New Jersey home were unconstitutional.

Judge Sidney H. Stein ruled Monday that multiple warrants used to conduct 2022 searches of the Democrat’s email accounts and his home were properly sought and carried out.

The senator’s lawyers had claimed the warrants were “riddled with material misrepresentation and omissions that deceived the authorizing magistrate judge.”

Stein said any omissions in the warrants were not intentional or material and a hearing was not necessary to explore the claims further. He also denied challenges to search warrants by one of three businessmen charged in the case that also resulted in the arrest of Menendez’s wife.

The warrants were issued between January and July 2022, along with a final warrant pertaining to cellular phones last September.

Searches of his home in June 2022 resulted in the discovery of over $100,000 worth of gold bars and more than $480,000 in cash — much of it hidden in closets, clothing and a safe, prosecutors said.

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