Correct of scope BUT according to Rudy, he told them it was evidence of a crime and as they were there lawfully it was in plain view.
The drive may have been in plain view, but since the evidence is contained inside the drive in digital form that isn’t apparent without plugging the drive into a computer, then the evidence certainly was not in plain view.
Rudy you marvelous bastard, to quote a line. You set them up! Allegedly they had a voice mail alluding to a burner. Rudy must have believed he is under some kind of monitoring. So, he acts all stupid and leaves around a hard drive in plain view which they refuse to take, point 1 for him. Better still, he MUST have known they were coming either by assuming they had him monitored or even better that he has a source in their office.
All IMO of course.