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Sen. Menendez Insists Gold Bars and Cash Were Illegally Taken From His Home

The New Jersey Democrat wants that evidence dropped from his case.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)—who was charged for allegedly accepting bribes—claims his home was unlawfully searched, so the gold bars and cash that were discovered there shouldn’t be included as evidence in his case. “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,” his lawyers wrote in a new filing. “The FBI seized all manner of things, including the cash and gold bars that the government has made the centerpiece of its case.” The papers, filed late Monday in Manhattan federal court, allege that the search was conducted as retribution after charges against him in a 2017 bribery case were ultimately dropped. Menendez's lawyers argued that the search warrants allowing for the seizure of their client’s property “were riddled with material misrepresentations and omissions.” “The FBI ran roughshod over the Senator’s Fourth Amendment rights, and all evidence collected from those searches must therefore be suppressed,” his lawyers argue.