Lawyers of pro-Armenian Senator Menendez try to cover their tracks

Lawyers for pro-Armenian Senator Menendez are trying to cover up physical evidence found during searches of his home. The initial search of Senator Robert Menendez's home took place in June 2022, during a session of the U.S. Senate, Azernews reports, citing The New York Times.

Items collected during the searches later formed the lion's share of the evidence in a September indictment in which federal prosecutors accused Menendez of receiving cash, gold and a luxury car in exchange for political favours when the politician was chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But the senator's lawyers now argue that much of the physical evidence, what was seized during the searches, should be "thrown out." The warrants, they say, were issued by judges who were duped by prosecutors who "assiduously misrepresented the evidence."

According to the court statement, neither Menendez nor his wife were at home during the search.

Upon returning home, Menendez found that investigators had rummaged through file cabinets, desk drawers, dressers, wardrobes and wardrobes, scattering everything around him

"I was shocked to find my belongings and furniture in total disarray," Menendez said, noting that even his doors had been broken.

Recall, the indictment states that Menendez helped a New Jersey businessman obtain investments from a Qatari firm linked to the Middle Eastern country's government.

Menendez faces four charges, including conspiracy to commit bribery, private services fraud, extortion and acting as a foreign agent.

The senator and his wife Nadine are accused of receiving gold and Formula One race tickets in exchange for supporting businessman Fred Dybs in negotiating a multi-million dollar investment in a New Jersey real estate project.

According to the indictment, in June 2021, Menendez introduced Daibes to a member of the Qatari royal family overseeing the investment company.

Prosecutors allege that Menendez publicly supported Qatar and, in August 2021, facilitated Daibes' review of a press release praising the country's government.

According to the indictment, in an encrypted message, Menendez advised Daibes, "You might want to send them a message."

According to prosecutors, by May 2022, a certain Qatari company allegedly signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture with Daibes' company.

Prosecutors also allege that Menendez received a reward: a Qatari official gave a relative of Nadine Menendez tickets to a Formula One race in Miami in May 2022, and Daibes gave Menendez a gold bar.

Later that month, after dinner with his wife and Daibes, the senator allegedly conducted a Google search for "price per kilogram of gold," prosecutors alleged.

Daibes and Nadine Menendez also face charges, but have pleaded not guilty.