It’s been a rough stretch for Bob Menendez.
First, his co-defendant plead guilty, and it sounds like he’s going to cooperate with the feds.
Then, on Monday, a federal judge ruled that the infamous gold bars and some other items removed from Bob Menendez’s home can in fact be brought into the evidence in his bribery trial. During a 2022 search of the Senator’s residence, FBI agents executing a search warrant found $100,000 in gold bars as well as nearly half of a million in cash.
According to U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein, Menendez through his legal defense team “failed to make a substantial preliminary showing of material misrepresentations or omissions that, based on credible evidence, are deliberately or recklessly misleading.”
“If probable cause supports searching for evidence of a crime, and conduct suggesting consciousness of guilt is indeed relevant, then it logically follows that a warrant properly authorizing seizure of evidence of a crime encompasses evidence of consciousness of guilt,” added Stein. “Put another way, conduct that suggests consciousness of guilt is itself relevant.”
Menendez has yet to announce whether he’s running for reelection. He only has a few weeks (until March 25th) to file for the Democrat Primary election in June, but he hasn’t participated in any of the critical county nominating contests to date.
