Prosecutors may have violated the Constitution — and it could let a convicted senator walk
Raw StoryFederal prosecutors managed to win a conviction against former Sen. Bob Menendez on one of the most dramatic and blatant corruption cases in recent U.S. history. But they may have violated the Constitution when they showed evidence to the jury, reported Politico — and it could give Menendez an opening to get a new trial, and possibly beat the charges. "In several surprise legal filings since mid-November, prosecutors from the Southern District of New York revealed they had inadvertently given the jury access to evidence a judge ruled jurors should not see," said the report. This same provision was wielded by Trump's legal team to try to stop former Vice President Mike Pence from testifying to special counsel Jack Smith's team, and it is why the House GOP's desire for former Rep. Liz Cheney to be criminally prosecuted for her work on the House January 6 Committee will likely be impossible. If, as Menendez's legal team is now trying to argue, the jury was tainted by seeing these materials, the judge could ultimately order a new trial for the former senator — and there's no guarantee such a trial would end with another conviction.